It Seems Like Madness to Do it All Again
Ian Brunner
It seems like madness to do it all again.
After all,
there is tension in the season. In
the little war against infinity. In
cracked sidewalks. Frost wedging like
acne scars littering the Earth.
It seems like madness to do it all again.
But here a single flower grows.
It seems like madness to do it all again.
After all,
there is tension in a season not
of women but of their sons and daughters. Not
of sex, or intercourse, or fucking, but of
reproduction. Resistance against time.
It seems like madness to do it all again.
I mean look at this—the world—
and tell me it is worth it.
It seems like madness to do it all again.
It seems like madness to do it all again.
It seems like madness to do it all again. But here
a single flower grows.
Imagine that first kiss of sunshine. Water
dripping from skin and petal. You—
or something like you—growing
out of those same scarred sidewalks.
It seems like madness to do it all again. Smile,
after all,
a single flower is doing it all again.
Ian Brunner is a poet, fiction writer, and essayist from Buffalo, NY. His writing has appeared in Riggwelter Press, Ghost City Press, and The Comics Cabinet among other places. He holds a Master's in English Education, has one published chapbook, and is the short-fiction editor for Variety Pack Magazine. He spends his time jogging in the nearby graveyard preparing for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.