To Live in the Zombie Apocalypse by Burlee Vang

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 20, 2016   To Live in the Zombie Apocalypse   Burlee Vang

The moon will shine for God knows how long. As if it still matters. As if someone   is trying to recall a dream. Believe the brain is a cage of light & rage. When it shuts off,   something else switches on. There's no better reason than now to lock the doors, the windows.   Turn off the sprinklers & porch light. Save the books for fire. In darkness,   we learn to read what moves along the horizon, across the periphery of a gun scope—   the flicker of shadows, the rustling of trash in the body of cities long emptied.   Not a soul lives in this house & this house & this   house. Go on, stiffen the heart, quicken the blood. To live   in a world of flesh & teeth, you must learn to kill   what you love, & love what can die.            Copyright © 2016 Burlee Vang. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "I find myself constantly thinking about the survival of my little family and the different ways this world could end. Maybe that's not normal, but that's what I'm forced to think about when I'm stuck on the freeway for hours, trying to get home to my wife and kids. Bad traffic tends to inspire me to write about the apocalypse." —Burlee Vang   Burlee Vang is the author of The Dead I Know: Incantation for Rebirth (Swan Scythe Press, 2010). He teaches at Long Beach City College and lives in Cerritos, California.     Poetry by Vang   The Dead I Know: Incantation for Rebirth (Swan Scythe Press, 2010) "Apocalypse Soliloquy" by Scott Hightower "The Future Is Here" by Bianca Stone "Voir Dire" by Justin Marks Writing from the Absence   Burlee Vang's poem is featured in our new series Writing from the Absence: Voices of Hmong American Poets, curated by 2016 Walt Whitman winner Mai Der Vang. Read Mai Der Vang's introduction to the series and an interview with Burlee Vang about his poem. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038