Difference
The once-in-a-thousand-year-flood came and went.
We listened as though blood were a tide
our bedroom an ark. At dawn we understood
the full extent of what had occurred:
as there was no sun, we attended a critical mass
in our underwear. A town went by, followed
by a stunned population, all wearing plover masks.
You were at the window, giving a commentary
on the direction of the wind. I lay on the bed
listening to a public broadcast of the dangers
of being out alone, after dark. You reported
people walking through the steady rain
of a pamphlet-drop. I put the words diaspora
and exodus up for discussion. Your voice broke
with news of street executions being carried out
by gangs by torchlight. They say that hardship
calls forth the best and worst in relationships.
The sky was red, the ground white with ash.
By such extremes were our differences exposed.