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In Which I Declare My Resistance
by Jeannine Hall Gailey

I will resist the moon. The sun will not exert its solar pressures
on me. I will resist the wind; it will not carry me away.

I will resist the entire earth, a cloak of darkness around me
and a cave to protect. A protest of oceans rising, of clouds descending,

dust in the air and fire in the sky. I will resist
with plagues of locusts, with the withering of crops

and when you cry out, don't be surprised if you hear
my laughter in the scraping of tree branches together,

in the movement of air through the empty windows.
You had your chance. I will resist in a barrage of rooks

and rocks and wild horses. The fish will glint in the light but you
will never catch them. The birds will claw at your eyes.

If this world burns, so be it.
I am the feathers of a thousand poisoned snow geese,
the cesium in the snow and clover in the mouths of children.
I am the embers of the dresses of charred women.


Appeared in the Rise Up Review  

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