Amber Alert

This poem won Peoples Choice in 2-Day Poem Contest 2016

This wavering sky and dust-up

leaf-slinging winds charcoaled as massed

crows chasing Tippi Hedren, or the

 

clawed rail line whir of cloud bellies

bearded with rain. Amid crawling tail

lights the doctor says a furuncle is a boil,

 

then authorities clatter in past the radio scratch,

another divorced parent gone bat-shit mad.

You say you remember the last one. The greasy

 

spoon crowd hinged to a stop, televisions

animate with reporters. It was a father, crumpled

his fortune pulling rigged slots. In time kids

 

will prune curse words, learn to evade fervent

hinky-voiced adults. Windshield wipers retweet

cleared instants. In this moment strained

 

through rearview mirrors, we are becoming

others, with nothing left to salt away. The entire

world wide-eyed for an emerald Ford sedan. 

Michael Fraser has been published in numerous national and international anthologies and journals including: Paris AtlanticArc, CV2, and The Caribbean Writer. He won Arc’s reader’s choice award for 2012, and was included in the Best Canadian Poetry in English 2013. He won Freefall’s 2014 and 2015 Poetry Contests. His latest book is To Greet Yourself Arriving (Tightrope Books).