Poetry

AFP photo

By

Alejandro Escudé

Sarin Work

The mood is sarin and the light is sarin

there are sarin children dancing in the air

convulsing skyward, there are sarin trees

and sarin ships firing sarin missiles

at sarin airports where sarin helicopters

sit ready to traverse sarin lands, over sarin

rooftops, blanketing a country of sarin,

a language of sarin, the sarin of resorts

where the leaders of sarin meet to discuss

treaties over sarin. But you need two chemicals

to form sarin, and sarin lasts a short time,

sarin is short as life itself, meaningless really

unless it is packaged just right; still,

a world without sarin is a world flooded

in sarin, with sarin dreams like those

of the sarin children who felt it rain down

on them and saw their fingers turn to roads,

their lungs become mountains, their hearts

pumping sarin into their sarin souls.

Alejandro Escudé

Alejandro Escudé’s first book of poems, My Earthbound Eye, was published in September 2013. He holds a master’s degree in creative writing from UC Davis and teaches English. Originally from Argentina, Alejandro lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.