Diehards
By Ray McManus
I’m dying.
My wife is dying.
Our kids are dying.
Their pets are dying.
The neighbors are dying.
The tree out back is dying,
and the field behind it
is dying again.
The road is not dying,
but everything on it is:
every bone cycle,
every skin machine,
and that’s where
we’re leaving it.
My wife pats the backseat,
wakes the kids and says look.
Their eyes are wide open
in the rearview mirror.
Notes:
Originally published in Open-Eyed, Full-Throated: An Anthology of American/Irish Poets (Arlen House, 2019), edited by Nathalie Anderson, distributed internationally by Syracuse University Press.
Source: Poetry (June 2021)