the world as it is

when you realize there’s nothing

you can do,

your limbs fill with light.

you rise above lands

cordoned off like VIP areas.

watch the tide swell

over the sweet bodies

of dead bees, smoke

the last air, crown

yourself in final

trees, set yourself

on fire.

Photo of a dark-haired white woman in dramatic makeup with a faded mirror image of the same woman on the left.

Author: Sera Gamble

Sera Gamble’s poems have appeared in publications such as Birdcoat Quarterly, Typehouse, Tinderbox, Sky Island Journal, Lit Angels, and Nine Mile Magazine. She also writes film and television; most recently, she co-created the TV series You and The Magicians. Sera is a first-generation American living in Los Angeles.

One thought on “the world as it is”

  1. There’s something that feels desolate and haunting to me with this poem and yet the crowning in trees also brings me some sense of nourishment, too. Such a lovely poem.

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