IF

By Richard Wells

When we were tweens we’d play

the What-Would-You-Do-If game

specifically

what would you do

if the world were about to end.

The possibility was clearly on the horizon

and it was a given that death would come from above

it

was

the

nuclear

age

and we’d seen those clap board houses

blown up a hundred times in A-bomb flash and wind.

I think What-Would-You-Do-If

was a boy’s game

and as the boys were becoming wise

in the ways of the flesh and the devil

girls figured

prominently

truth be told

orgies

of which we really had no idea

and certainly couldn’t articulate

were paramount

the

be-all

and end-all

if you will.

No one considered shelters or caves

or dropping to their knees in prayer

it was all about the girls.

In this wondrous 21st century

young teens may have a different view

as smoke and viruses

hang in the air

slow motion clips

of an ecological end

run again and again

or the triple-time panic

of an active shooter

takes up cloakrooms

and classrooms

duck and cover

has a bloody immediacy

when the monster’s in the hallway.

I don’t know what their

“What-Would-You-Do-If”

amounts to or if they even play

while they try to navigate

a world on fire

or are shuddering at

the direction of the future?

Since before Revelations

it seems the natural order

has been for each generation

to confront its doom

and for the older generation

to invent it.

Richard Wells, a lifelong writer, has also been a soldier, a chef, and a community organizer.  His books, “Sideways through Zion,” and, “Yearning for Grace,” were published by the Embajadoras Press. Through the years his poetry has appeared in a number of on-line and print journals. He’s currently compiling his third collection.

Richard’s current work is posted at richardwells.substack.com

Richard and his wife split their time between Seattle, WA, and Guanajuato, MX.