Tuesday, September 24, 2024: Rose Mary Boehm's " Element 79"

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Bio: Rose Mary Boehm is a German-born British national living and writing in Lima, Peru, and author of two novels as well as eight poetry collections. Her poetry has been published widely in mostly US poetry reviews (online and print). She was three times nominated for a ‘Pushcart’ and once for ‘Best of Net’. Do Oceans Have Underwater Borders? (Kelsay Books July 2022), Whistling in the Dark (Cyberwit July 2022), and Saudade (December 2022) are available on Amazon. Also available on Amazon is a new collection, Life Stuff, published by Kelsay Books November 2023. https://www.rose-mary-boehm-poet.com/





Element 79


gold is one of Peru’s major exports

A phalanx of red ants

on the multi-hued bark. Scarlet,

golden, orange skies falling

into black nights. Moments

when the earth itself

offers no aegis. Deep rifts

created over sixty million years ago

by giants which lifted and folded

sedimentary rocks.

Five thousand meters high,

five deep.

Sea, desert, bland, sand, dry, high,

snow and ice, lush, green, full

and moist, brown rivers submerging

all, subjugating rocks and earth. Death

the bed for constant renewal. Pleura.

Just as Midas’ power flowed into the river Pacctolus,

gold settled in Peru’s rocks and river sands.

And Midas’ alchemy again touches the waters,

the earth, and the people whose children drink mercury

and bathe in nitro-hydrochloric acid.


© Rose Mary Boehm




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