portion of the artwork for Peter Schwartz's poem

Year of the Abominable Snowball Fight
Peter Schwartz

museum vs. museum, hospital vs. hospital, machine vs. machine
who’ll stretch for whom under these tiny whimpering pyramids

who’ll salute even as they turn blue as an igloo
who’ll thaw for whom in these twisted eclipses of sun vs. moon

who’ll splinter from the avalanche of marathons running through their wishing wells
who’ll push further than any murderer ever dreamed

who’ll strangle themselves to grow their teeth like vampires on a lifeboat
who’ll play dentist in the aftermath of such exhausting journeys 

who’ll put these volcanoes on a spaceship made of camels
who’ll ignore the lava dripping from their mutilated lips

who’ll carry that hunchback like a medal from god
who’ll melt it for fillings for a longer smile

who’ll wage their earthworms for everything else
who’ll bury them in the perfect time capsule of these desperate anchors vs. tundra

who’ll say ouch and echo like a coward in a bullet aimed at motherhood
who’ll haunt this battleground regardless of victory or defeat

who’ll be an exhibit in their museum, a patient in a hospital
or just another robot


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FRiGG: A Magazine of Fiction and Poetry | Issue 47 | Spring 2016