New Middle earth

The experts warn-
the desert is taking over earth
water recedes to allow space for dust

show me life and I will show you
the face of your forefather
engraved under these bones

it feels wrong to assume
all that is left of us is a
dust we are making for this new earth

called it mid-terra, middle of the world
make its own land yours
by playing the wrong, right strings

except you do not hit notes
except you only hear deflated
out of tunes wheezing of lungs

ceremonies of the lack of innocence
drowned by the age of five
known to be a castaway with cooler documents

into new areas, you make out of  a comfortable living
an arid soil and request the return of the desert
to its own-

this is a recipe for new earth:

cut enough limbs of some to avoid the return of others
cast the native into the heart of the fish, like a ring
lost forever at its belly

redraw maps with words no one claims
to have said, redecorate the inner walls
with pictures of dancing harem

bellies exposed, heads covered
in shame of a soil that doesn't carry
the incense of the east

recipe for new earth;
stop pouring the blood over the map
let the old earth seep the red moist
to grow trees evergreen and demand of the desert
to take its dust back, demand the seas to spew
the treasures it swallowed, helping to decrease
global warming, at the center of earth