“We Ruined You” by Sheree La Puma

We Ruined You

Stationarity is dead. We all eat plastic.
There is a pinhole in the earth where air
leaks out. They say that an ocean holds
onto its bodies, but in Baja, California,
a seal washes up half dead, becomes an
instant tourist attraction. I want to close
my eyes to shortened life cycles, that
stream of corpses seeking a village. Like
buying a house during the war, everything
depends upon the walls. Spring is a threatened
species, earth a floor collapsing underfoot.

SHEREE LA PUMA

Sheree La Puma is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in The Penn Review, Redivider, The Maine Review, Rust + Moth, and Catamaran Literary Reader, among others. She earned her MFA in writing from CalArts. Her poetry has been nominated for Best of The Net and three Pushcarts. She has a new chapbook, Broken: Do Not Use (Main Street Rag Publishing). www.shereelapuma.com.

Headshot: Sheree La Puma

Photo Credit: Staff