Whatever Forever

Robert Ronnow
The Imaginary i

Whatever Forever

I think I’ve run my course like whatshisname—
Chidiock Tichborne. Pretty impressive
that he wrote a metered, rhymed, coherent verse
a few hours before his execution. Could you
control your fear enough to focus on prosody,
perfection? We all gotta go sometime so we shrug
it off or make it a ritual. Ritual is remedy.
Nothing but matter matters. Which? Whatever—

life is for the living. Therefore, weather
report: 50^o, misty rain, a California Christmas,
the virus killing over 1,000 people daily,
we’re gonna hafta learn to live with tragedy,
nuclear weapons and sullen seasons. Fewer
oldtimers, pollinators, big game. Yet the young are cheerful as ever.
Whatever is my son’s take on my frustration and anger.
I like that. We all gotta die sometime. Whatever forever.