Risa Denenberg
When empires fail, it’s always
for the greater good
we have survived
on the enamel of the earth’s teeth
cataclysmic events on our watch
filch pints of enamel from the earth
for the greater good
hordes of refugees flood prairies
burst with children begging for a crust
of earth for the greater good
we have foolish faith
that a greater good awaits us
we are probably wrong
perhaps the greater good is humanity’s
extinction, for the good of the earth’s
crust, the enamel of our teeth
empires fail
it has always been so
it may be for the greater good
Risa Denenberg is the author of Whirlwind @ Lesbos (Headmistress Press, 2016), In My Exam Room (The Lives You Touch Publications, 2014) and blinded by clouds (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2014) She is a nurse practitioner working in HIV/AIDS care and end-of-life care. Risa is a moderator at The Gazebo, an online poetry board; reviews poetry for the American Journal of Nursing; and is an editor at Headmistress Press, a publisher of lesbian poetry. She lives on the Olympic peninsula in Washington State.