“Collapse” by Alessio Zanelli

above: “Close-Up of Crater Copernicus” from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, November 23rd 1966

A snip knocked down the stronghold,
a behemoth of sureties with feet of clay,
in one go, like the tiny pebble big Goliath.
Now we know we’re all in the same league,
none of us leads or is able to sow new seeds.
In saecula saeculorum, as the sky implodes
over man’s crazy, inconclusive endeavor,
a novel never ending flood will follow.
Who’s gone, who’s left, we lost count,
the background picture still unseen,
of all possible nightmares, the worst,
gulped by a bug nicknamed nineteen.
All around the globe, but America first.

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Alessio Zanelli is an Italian poet who writes in English and whose work has appeared in some 170 literary journals from 15 countries. His fifth original collection, titled The Secret Of Archery, was published in 2019 by Greenwich Exchange Publishing (London). For more information please visit www.alessiozanelli.it.