08 April 2014

Science Fiction

File:Rockaway boardwalk 1903.jpg
Rockaway boardwalk, 1903, via Wikipedia, digital record


Peaceful violence and violent peace
were names of two new drinks on the boardwalk
and we watched from the dry bar of sand far
out in the bay as our friends took one each.

Peaceful violence was redder than toe-
mate-O juice formed by crushing the ripest
feet in shoes with no room for growth, squeezing
lemon juice on them and serving on ice.

Violent peace was clear of blood, but full
of the seeds of pomegranates preserved
in tequila swarming with full-grown worms
screaming eat me, eat me until some did.

You said Peace-Vi was safer than Vi-Peace
because it had no alcohol in it
but I think it is better to be drunk
than to be cannibals enjoying blood.

And we wondered if Peaceful Peace could be
and if the bar also served Violent Violence
thinking the first would be lemon and ice
with pomegranate juice and the second—

Violent Violence—would be a tincture
of toe meat mixed with writhing worms and blood
preserved in tequila.  We laughed at this
imagined horror but also feared it.

We knew the human race we were part of,
guessed three of our four drinks would please most and
wondered if bartenders only mixed us
opposites to prevent mass poisoning.

Oh, well, we sighed as we left in search of
liquid we could swim incool like water,
wet like a drinkno longer available
in the junk-yard bays devoid of oceans.



Inspired by the 2014 April PAD Challenge: Day 8 on Peace and Violence at Writer's Digest.

Copyright © 2014  S.L.Chast




5 comments:

  1. Whoa! This is wild, Susan!

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  2. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely brilliant!!

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  3. This is so beautifully layered and textured, Susan. Showing that violence and peace are both complicated issues.

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  4. Very imaginative take Susan ~ The use of drinks, violence & peace, grounded the concepts but still we always in search for that liquid we can all swim in ~

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  5. I 2nd Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Powerful poem made me think of Rimbaud whom I love.

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