Amanda Wochele holds a Master of Arts in English from Brooklyn College. Her first chapbook, Jack Frost, was published by Finishing Line Press in January 2017. Her poem, “Climate Control” was recently published in Whirlwind #9. She has previously published works in The Word Stock 10 and A cappella Zoo, among others. She lives in Philadelphia, PA.
Climate Control
We ran away from a neon
rodeo clown, and hopped
fences into outer space,
counting only the tens of
our millennium.
To avoid self-immolation,
I make mistakes discreetly:
can’t you hear me through
all this weeding?
No affiliation! No
affiliation! - they corral
me back to earth – but I can
see the eights and pair of
aces in the big man’s hand.
If you'd ever thought to
ask me:
if I could go back to any
time or any one, I'd live to
see the day the west was
won – show me a victor,
bring me torches of silvers
and golds, and maybe I'll
give you a shred of
respect
man, come on, saying
it was never your
intention to hurt anyone,
yet the winter is warm
and thick like swamp
insects frozen inside their
consciousness -
and the worst comes
with summertime:
when the wine I drink no
longer refreshes me,
and the water here tastes
like Mercury.