Millennial Kingdom

Our feet touch earth

Collecting dust, debris

Weights to push

Or pull,

Dragging us to center

Where infernos blaze

Set by match dropped

By passer-through

Arms reaching to hold

Hands of the clock

Just beyond our grasp,

Hung on a ceiling

By crooked fingers

That preceded our blooming

And dumped concrete

Where our roots

Were meant to grow.

We drink from

Polluted streams

And feed on

Toxic sprouts,

AND THEY WONDER

Why our words slur

And ideas slip and slide

Never gaining momentum

Shot down

Like enemy plane

Before true flight

Even begins.

And we wonder

When our turn to run

Will arrive.

Katrina Thornley is a nature poet and novelist that resides in Rhode Island. She has two poetry collections currently published, a novel, as well as a short story anthology. Her poetry collections "Arcadians: Lullaby in Nature" and "Arcadians: Wooden Mystics" were inspired by a local park and life in her small rural town. You can find them on Amazon now!

Also, be sure to give her a follow on Instagram!