Public Republic

Simon Perchik

Photo: Hamed Saber

Still, the Earth with so much hair
is just not strong enough, the sun
takes all the light it wants
and every morning you watch
the struggle, it ends
with the sun fattened
feeding her brood in the dark

–stars get hungry too, need more light
maybe not, and you take hold
what happens to the night
that’s just not old enough
to be left alone, you point
here and there and the Earth’s core

rises to become another island
the light halfway to the sun

–you have your favorite star
though nothing you say matters
–you become the huge shadow
no one can push back
not even the silence from your finger
not its slenderness, not its nakedness
–you become everything that grieves
that once lifted the sun closer
could start the day and waters.