Suzanne Osborne
To the Permian Extinction
Which eliminated 95% of all species
Kudos to the most effective yet.
Wiped clean the slate except
for just a smidge of chalk dust
in the upper right-hand corner
and one imperfect swipe dead center.
Still, that should have been that,
shouldn’t it? Who’d have thought
such meager remnants could reanimate
the pestilential scribble—idle at first,
a notion here, a sketch there, just noodling—
the stylus slowly gathering weight and speed,
pitting the surface as it overwrites, crossing
one way then the other, piling up, spilling
out onto the decaying frame, obliterating sense.
Dip the sponge again,
and this time get it all.
Let no phoenix flare
among the tardigrades.
Suzanne Osborne‘s work has appeared in Neologism, Front Range Review, and District Lit, among other journals and publications. After an early career in theater, a stint in academia, and too many years as a legal secretary, she now lives in Queens and writes poetry.
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