From an Official Pamphlet
of Self-Help Advice
Dec 21 2008


Fill the bath tub up.
Or ration the hot-water tank,
which will cool soon enough.
Leave the freezer shut
for as long as possible,
and keep some candles, a flashlight
on hand.

Then sit in the dark
making conversation,
listening to the wind groan
the house creak
as it cools.
A wind-up radio
is your lifeline to the world,
as long as the signal keeps coming.
And soon enough
you fire-up the woodstove
counting-down the logs,
looking out at moonlight
on virgin snow;
well prepared
for emergencies.

Probably, someone skidded-off the road
taking-out a hydro pole.
Or a tree fell
crashing through the wires,
buzzing
in the brittle cold.
But when the radio dies
cutting you off entirely
you can’t help but wonder what it was.

About an asteroid
no one saw coming.
And dirty clouds circling the earth.
And permanent winter
on a crystal planet
locked under mountains of ice.