An Abundance of Riches
“Iran Launches Retaliatory Strikes on U.S. Sites” 6/23/2025
They are droppings bombs again
because pre-school and patriarchy never ends,
though the world just might this time.
I used to worry about that,
about so much that it made me anxious
or depressed to the point I’d only
talk to my desktop lamp because it
never answered back, even when
it knew the correct outcome of events.
Now, I figure I’ve lived as long as
I’m supposed to. I’ve seen things
I was never meant to, lived a life
white trash isn’t molded for, I’ve had
my heart punched and shredded
in cliched or soul mate fashion,
which means I’ve been alive,
been gifted, as they say,
an abundance of riches.
I’ve noticed the orange-bellied robin
bopping on the lawn as if the blades
were overheated from Global Warming,
same as everything else on the planet.
The other day, a bee, in Italy of all places,
sat down on the thigh of my pants and
preened like a beauty contestant
about to walk on stage while I took
a long time noticing it, studying how
fastidiously it cleaned its wings
and smoothed down its invisible hair,
all the while knowing the bees
are dying in droves worldwide and
that their absence will most certainly
mean the end of mankind.
This morning on my walk, a doe
raised her gawky young head, wondering
how I’d found her there on that
lone dirt path, wondering maybe also if
I knew where her mother and brother were,
though we never talked about it because
I strode on past as she loped off into
the thick brush while somewhere else
across the globe people were
bombing us back for bombing them first.
I’m certain there were sirens aplenty in those parts,
and that people were crushed to death
or bleeding out, some children as well I’m sure,
but I didn’t think about any of that,
I just kept walking, as focused as a cadaver,
listening to the new song that showed up in my earbuds like a scattered fly out of nowhere,
looking for a place to land.
Len Kuntz is a writer from Washington State and the author of six books, most recently, THINGS I CAN’T EVEN TELL MYSELF, out now from Ravenna Press. You can find more of his writing at https://lenkuntz.blogspot.com
