Late-Stage Journalism

I open my email

and for the fifth time

this week, I worry that 

the world is about to end.

             Breaking news:

             Iran launches over 100

             ballistic missiles at Israel

I find that our fates

             lie behind a paywall

before my gaze meets

             an image of ocean-deep skies

streaked with red-hot gashes

             tearing across a faint starscape.

Below the photographer’s

byline, where I imagine the way

             his limbs trembled, eyes

hiding behind a viewfinder

             as Earth collapsed around him,

follows an advertisement

for t-shirts:

Look more masculine!

             Goodbye manboobs!

Feel more confident!

             1 sold every 5 seconds!

In the time that it takes

to sell two pieces of fabric,

             one person on average

             is killed in Palestine.

My county has more

nuclear weapons

             than it does universities.

These facts do not receive

equal ink in my inbox.

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