Countrymen

Do Not Open, 2003. [Photo by Keith Johnson]

We are a peaceful nation.

Our planes are filled with strawberries
headed for Japan.

The continent is on the move,
shaking its hips, grinding the perreo.

California will crash into Alaska
                              in fifty million years.

This is a science like any other,
               how we bend ourselves

to the line of action, making
adjustments
                              in the angle of our commerce.

We are waiting for
               the Arctic Ocean to open.

Our submarines travel quietly
beneath the ice.

“Countrymen” appears in the chapbook A Guide to the Northwest Territory, published by Miel Books in September. The poem was first published in Bateau in 2009.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Wallaert is the associate editor of Places. He lives in San Francisco.
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