Myra Sklarew

The World to Come
 
Will it be made of dark matter,
indecipherable force that occupies
a quarter of our universe?
 
Or will the Messiah arrive at last?
Will our mitochondria, weary
of our killing ways, part from our cells,
 
announce that we have used their gifts
poorly? Better to locate a more viable
home in the world to come.
 
Will Abraham return to the land
of his father? Moses, never set foot
in Egypt? Will Jonah swallow the whale?
 
All the mines secretly embedded
in the earth turn into fireflies?
And Samson–his light annulled—
 
be given sight? No separation
between night and day.
No firmament below,
 
nor above. A time to create,
like the words of a poem–
fearless. Like song.
 
 
 
Myra Sklarew was educated at Tufts, Johns Hopkins, and Cold Spring Harbor Biological Laboratory. She is author of collections of poetry, essays, fiction and forthcoming, A Survivor Named Trauma from SUNY Press. She directed Yaddo Artists Community and taught at American University She serves on the Advisory board, Furious Flower Poetry Center, James Madison University. Other books of hers include Lithuania: New & Selected Poems, Harmless, Over the Rooftops of Time (essays), and Like a Field Riddled by Ants (fiction).