John Anderson Poet Lyric

Notes About The Poem

Listen to poem:

Morning Without Mercy

The morning sighs
with hoarse, guttural caws.

Crows twirl and cartwheel backwards,
like charred scraps of newspaper
caught in wild feral, wind eddies
above a raging bush fire.

Goosestepping gulls
enforce their feeding-ground territories
with threats and violent gestures
their beaks snapping shut
like rust-corroded, iron gates.

Looping caterpillars
form a Congo line 
across the blistered bark of trees
while ants drag dismembered wings
along cracks in the pavement.

A magpie bludgeons
a snail against the stones
until the shell gives way
its pale body spilling outwards;
a molluscan sacrifice 
that satisfies the hunger pangs
of a black-and-white starving bird.

Worms writhe blindly, 
torn asunder
on the hot sunbaked soil
attacked by hordes of bull-ants
lake tiny matadors in torero corrida,
sparing with capes and lances
as they torment the helpless,
doomed, and dumb, succumbed prey.

The morning sun rises, 
guilty as charged!
without pity or cause,
without mercy or motive,
to silent, stark applause,
as nature pleads for survival.

♡Like0

Share Poem

---

Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment