Tuesday Poem: The Downside to an Earthquake by Emanuel E Garcia

Hello, all my faithful followers!   Yes, I know was meant to be on sabbatical 'til the end of the month - but its worth breaking a sabbatical when a poem like this flies into your radar...
Also I should note, if you like this, you will almost certainly love The Upside to an Earthquake here on my blog.

The Downside to an Earthquake

 

The rumble begins

You wonder just how long it will go on

Before the walls start swaying and

A carelessly placed book falls off a shelf

For the life of you

You can’t remember whether you should

Hide under a table or head for the hills

So you’re stuck in your tracks

Shaking with the thought

That survival’s more important

Than, say, writing poems

Until you come back to your senses

When it stops

That is,

If you have any senses left

Emanuel E. Garcia

July 2013

emanuelegarcia@gmail.com

The rumble begins...

And with it a poem that feels real. 
Wellington has started and stopped quite a bit lately, as the middle of the country has been rocked by quakes.  And we have all discovered Geo Net, (somewhat after the Christchurch folk) so that in the moments after a quake we can quantify it, put it at rest, and return to our senses.

About the Author:

Emanuel E Garcia is an author and physician who resides in Eastbourne. His most recent book, "Twenty-Four Caprices for Violin," is a collection of whimsical, fantastic, poignant, macabre and capricious tales, each of which features the violin. Set in wide-ranging locations and milieux, from Vienna to Nashville, Florence to New York, Venice to New Zealand, they capture the bittersweet and ridiculous nature of human follies — romance, repression, vanity, fidelity, ugliness, adultery, mischief, mastery, innocence and betrayal, and is available here at http://mebooks.co.nz/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=485 for only $2.99.

I was treated to a number of these stories at a reading at Rona Gallery, and they really did all the things the blurb says.  Unexpectedly fun, given there wasn't a single spaceship. Not even a wizard— unless you count the multitalented Emanuel E. Garcia himself.

... and just a reminder the poem's sequel, The Upside to an Earthquake is here :) 

cheers,
A.J.

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.