Susan Griffin: “ETC”

ETC

Go on
with life
cook dinner
etc.
Because of course
it’s  become that–
etc.
Everything is etc, as I
think of this.
This
what?
None of the old words,
the ones that came
slowly to
us over
the years,
while we gathered &
cooked
etc,
fit.
Though recently
we’ve learned to say:
split
atom, meaning
fission,
& we’ve found
words too for
the strange
elements
making their way
into  us all
but I can find
no word
for the mix
that seems so real
it erases
all thought of
cooking etc
from my mind:
earthquake, tsunami,
explosion etc, reactor,
cesium, plutonium, etc. Iodine,
thyroid &/or gene damage
cancer & lymphoma, et
cetera
evacuation &
wind current, rain, &
dispersal,
loss of life, etc & long-
term morbidity,
suffering & sorrow
& of course, the grief
that follows mortality,
that is
death, etc & the end
of life as we
know
it
etc.
Etc.

Copyright © 2011 by Susan Griffin. All rights reserved.

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