Rose Mary Boehm

Rose Mary Boehm is a German-born British national living and writing in Lima, Peru, and author of two novels as well as six poetry collections. Her poetry has been published widely in mostly US poetry reviews (online and print). She was twice nominated for a Pushcart. DO OCEANS HAVE UNDERWATER BORDERS? (Kelsay Books July 2022) and WHISTLING IN THE DARK (CiberWit, July 2022), are both available on Amazon. Her seventh collection, SAUDADE, has been published by Kelsay (December 2022). https://www.rose-mary-boehm-poet.com/

Question

In homage to Rainer Maria Rilke

Dear God, it was a big-ish year,
and still to come is much we would avoid.
The structure once so dear to us
is quite in tatters, is unraveling,
falling around us with a tiny sigh

like autumn leaves. The ground is harder
than at other times. The seeds don’t yield,
work bears no fruit. It’s all your fault,

or mine, or theirs, and she is definitely
much to blame. We look around us
and with pointed fingers
find innocent wrongdoers.

The hay is in, but it is wet and rotting,
the corn sits empty on the stalks.
Those who did not build by now
may never have a house, and those
who did build find it rubble.

We don’t do well, dear God,
our world is out of sync. Although
I never asked before I do so now:
are you—and have you ever been—
and do you care?