The Fall of Saigon
All afternoon
straight ladder
uprighted. There?
No, there—
there!
Unbraiding fire blight,
fruit wilt, dieback.
Pruning an ulna’s
length below
each putrescent canker.
At work till
sunset, then pausing,
stepping away,
taking the day’s measure.
From a distance
the Seckel
less tree, more
the vet in a combat jacket,
boy skull razor raw,
AWOLed
on asphalt downtown.
(LIQUIDATION SALE—Every
thing must go!!)
Mother crying,
and me,
bow saw in hand,
its phthisic hum.
Kurt Olsson has published two award-winning poetry collections, Burning Down Disneyland (Gunpowder Press) and What Kills What Kills Us (Silverfish Review Press). His third collection, The Unnumbered Anniversaries, is due out in 2025 from Fernwood Press. Olsson’s poems have appeared in many journals, including Poetry, The New Republic, Southern Review, and The Threepenny Review. Currently, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.