Beyond the walls
a thousand sandals clap.

Mount Vesuvius rumbles
not far away.

We feel the heat of the lava
but can’t outrun it.

Larva shall eat our burnt bodies,
leaving molds for posterity.

No telling who will care
to cast our plasters.

*

Kenton K. Yee has placed poetry most recently in Ligeia Magazine, Plume Poetry and Summerset Review, among others. An Iowa Summer Poetry Workshop alum, he’s a member of the Attic Institute for Literary Arts. Kenton makes his home in northern California.