In the Event of Some Undoing: One Month of Survival Planning (List)
by Stacey Johnson
- If octopus attack, pull away. Peel the suckers and remember: It's the beak and not the hold that takes you under. Underwater sight goes south and will vanish in a minute.
- If reindeer, stand your ground, let these tundra cows bow; take a knee.
- If killer bees, avoid the water; they will lay in wait to slaughter.
- So now run, give Johnny Walker to the leeches.
- He will call this a mindset, but we knew it is a season, called Survive.
- It came and went beneath our reasons and his moods like Santa Ana Winds.
- A stillness in the living room meant earthquake weather. Next:
- The hallway closets open like a coming scream
- counting the ammo and bluing the barrels
- he rifles us through plastic bins
- Look! and we did, and for the empty bottles, gauging the weather
- and then whispered, of the last coming first.
- Call it. Now respond. Yes, before we heard: no escape.
- Matches? We were on our way.
- Fire? Yes.
- Propane? Soon.
- Quick-clot? Coming.
- Time check? End of days.
- Insect repellent? Doesn't work.
- He's yelling now, Wool socks, wrapped in plastic! Parachute cord! Reflective blanket!
- Sing, return me to heat.
- If I fall, say you'll reach me in the cold.
- In the cold, may your heat be enough to swallow the chill.
- If I wander, let me not—
- Check the bins: beans, rice, spice.
- I will not go, hungry. I shall not—
- Move! he shouts, Now!
- We carry it all out: the oil, AWOL candles.
- Number them.
- Twenty boxes, ten hours.
- How much you want to bet?
- A hundred to what?
- How many nights does twenty-thousand burn?
- If leeches invade the next breath, gargle with diluted liquor and relax.
- Same if buried alive.
- Hold and hope the rain holds out.
ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ the Author