October 16: Halloween Poems, Burlee Vang, "To Live in the Zombie Apocalypse"

So, as we are fast approaching All Hallow's Eve, I have decided that, for the next two weeks, I'm going to feature Halloween poems.

The first, in honor of the late George Romero, director of one of my favorite films, Night of the Living Dead, I have a zombie poem.  For those of you who don't know Romero or that movie, I have one thing to say:  the zombie apocalypse did NOT start with The Walking Dead.

Saint Marty wishes you all pleasant dreams!

To Live in the Zombie Apocalypse

by:  Burlee Vang

The moon will shine for God
knows how long.
As if it still matters. As if someone

is trying to recall a dream.
Believe the brain is a cage of light
& rage. When it shuts off,

something else switches on.
There’s no better reason than now
to lock the doors, the windows.

Turn off the sprinklers
& porch light. Save the books
for fire. In darkness,

we learn to read
what moves along the horizon,
across the periphery of a gun scope—

the flicker of shadows,
the rustling of trash in the body
of cities long emptied.

Not a soul lives
in this house &
this house & this

house. Go on, stiffen
the heart, quicken
the blood. To live

in a world of flesh
& teeth, you must
learn to kill

what you love,
& love what can die.