Report from 2026
By Miriam Bassuk
We are living a hair’s breath away
from a daily brush with lunacy.
Humdrum plays her ordinary flute
as if gongs of war were not wreaking havoc.
Plumes of black smoke riddle the air.
Earth heaves cement ruin
in a country, far from our shore.
Lunacy chooses weekends
to act impulsively, wages war
like a magic act, creates an enemy
out of thin air, while pretending to seek peace.
The soiled laundry of these years
will infect the next generation and the one after that.
Is it too much to ask to exile the drones,
to cease the shrill whistle of their flight?
Miriam Bassuk treasures Seattle for its natural beauty and thriving literary community.
Hoping to capture some of that magic, she has been published in Breathe, Snapdragon,
Borderless, and 3 Elements Review. She was one of the featured poets in a project
sponsored by Tod Marshall, the Washington State poet laureate. As an avid poet,
she has been charting the journey of living in these uncertain times.