Surviving
the Days
of Empire
Vanessa Kittle
Inside the Circle
I’m frightened even during the day now.
The snow-globe picture I live in
peels back from the edges.
As I take my afternoon walk,
the tree branches curve around
my sky and point black knives
at my heart. This bubble I have made
is still safe. But the outside
always wants to become the inside.
After all, they are not so different from us.
The way to fight
is not to ignore
or confront directly.
It is rather to keep them
subconsciously in a small part
of your mind.
But what if I embraced them instead?
Would I serve them, or they, me.
It’s getting cool enough to think.
The scenery in the globe has changed.
The leaves are turning red.
I feel big things coming.
Black vine-choked water
is rising in me as blood.
And the voice says,
“When you see a crude drawing
of a sun, with four long rays
and four short rays,
you will know it is time to wake.”
ISBN 1-59661-046-8
72 pages/$15