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Council approves plans for new apartment complex
over concerns of Far East Side residents
(headline from Columbus Dispatch; June 27, 2024)
My bike parked, I amble over your body still
sprawling as your destiny surrenders to lonely gusts
of breeze (and the earth opened her mouth to swallow
the blood of Abel). Your tongue severed, roots will
tremble beneath your stoic congress of trees as corrosive
syllables of bulldozer and chainsaw will fill you until
your ribs crack. Blazing crotches of engine will raze
your green to black, scour every cleft and crevice,
silence your morning dew, the industry of your nests,
hives, thickets, the ranch house ghosts of trellises,
fragrant gardens, playful hymns of wind chimes.
Your three parcels will finally give way to commerce.
How much we’ve cost you. How much we’ve cost
ourselves left with impotent vowels of aftermath.
In 2023, Rikki Santer was named Ohio Poet of the Year. Her forthcoming collection, Shepherd’s Hour, won the Paul Nemser Book Prize from Lily Poetry Review Books. Please contact her through her website, https://rikkisanter.com.