POETRY: TYLER ENGSTRÖM'S

NONE OF THIS IS A METAPHOR FOR ANYTHING
 
In the car I traced the power lines with my fingers
and hopped over the poles like little toads
real little jumpers like the ones we collected together
before the marsh was condos
that must’ve been 25 years ago today
 
it feels longer
 
we were born under the high watermark
and knew what that meant
 
how many metaphors do you need to make sense of a dying planet?
at least one more? at least one more
 
nothing gets to the point I’m trying to make,
there is no such thing as real sacrifice anymore
the difference between fake blood and real blood
is roughly how much we’ll pay for it

Tyler Engström's first book of poetry, Thee Golden Age of the Internet, is forthcoming from Frontenac House in 2021. He was a 2017 finalist for the Writer's Trust RBC Bronwen Wallace Award and his writing has been found in FreeFall Magazine, Freq Magazine, and the poetry anthology Drifting Like a Metaphor: Calgary Poets of Promise. @tylrengstrom