Nothing shakes off the oppressive summer heat
A sign of our times
A lone dragonfly dips then
Zips away in
An erratic unfanciful flight of urgency
To sideswipe the strung out day
Sparrows twitter protestations
To the prince of air
The temperature strangles
The living
Browbeats poetry
Into a devastating ennui
News no longer new
As Russians ruthlessly
Bombard Ukrainian cities
Hospitals residential area
Expansionist interests topple
All other interests
In the Middle East Israelis
Level already impoverished Palestinians
To eliminate terroristic threats
Women children elderly pay the heaviest terror tax
Retaliation versus retribution
Who tallies up the total dead
& prints out the final bill

The planet totters in annihilation
On the longest day of the year
If the end is by fire
This then-its flaming herald

Bio: Fernando Esteban Flores is a native son of Texas, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, published three books of poetry: Ragged Borders, Red Accordion Blues, & BloodSongs available through Hijo del Sol Publishing. His poems have appeared in multiple journals, reviews, newspapers, online sites and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. Fernando received an ELLA award and an Arts & Letters award from the San Antonio Public Library System for his outstanding contributions to the artistic and literary community of San Antonio.  He is currently the poetry editor of the CTN Journal of Pedagogy & Creativity (catchthenext.org)

Photo by: Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency