Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Zombie
(A parody poem inspired by "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens)
I
Among twenty rotting skyscrapers,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the zombie.
II
I was devoid of thought,
Like a morgue
In which there are three zombies.
III
The zombie whirled in the storm's vortex.
It was a small part of the zee-nado.
IV
A worm and the earth
Are one.
A worm and the earth and a zombie
Are one.
V
I do not know which to fear,
The horror of gnashing teeth
Or the horror of silence,
The zombie groaning
Or just after.
VI
Broken glass filled the long window
With monstrous teeth.
The shadow of the zombie
Crossed it, to and fro.
The urge
Traced in its shadow
An indefatigable hunger.
VII
O thin men of Black Summer,
Why do you imagine golden arches?
Do you not see how the zombie
Walks around the feet
Of the corpses about you?
VIII
I know crowded cities
And mindless, inescapable hordes;
But I know, too,
That the zombie is involved
In what I know.
IX
When the zombie lurched out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many graves.
X
At the sight of zombies
Glowing with green light,
Only the foolish clod
Would break wind sharply.
XI
He rode over the Badlands
In a golf cart.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For zombies.
XII
The dust is billowing.
The zombies must be migrating.
XIII
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The zombies lurked
Among the abandoned cars.
9-30-2015