Retrograde Mag- Future Issue

Retrograde Quarterly is a themed print magazine which features work collected from a wide range of mediums and can truly be described as ” beautifully chaotic. “

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The theme of FUTURE inspired me to wrtie two poems and some short prose on the futuer we are heading toward at the moment. They aim to be hopefull but not unrealistic.

Poems include:

• Little Futures
• In Flux

The short prose featured in this issue, Compromise, delves into my fears for what we are sacrificing on a daily basis with the small choices we make and the compromises we settle for.

• 

• 

Little Futures

It’s little and it’s lost,
our future
buried like a seed
slow in sweet earth
next to hopeful
brothers and sisters
in sprinkled rows.

It will stretch now,
our future
with shallow roots
down through rot
searching out
leaching old truths
for building new.

It’s found sunlight,
our future
peeks green growth
from a low grave
and standing taller
to bask or burn
in heavy rays.

It will change now
our future
with every set-back
unfurling leaves
pruning the rest
to take a leap
and slowly
we become new seeds.

In Flux

Connect the dots
circuit twice
I am with all
without filter
click easily
and lets connect
all thoughts
or words
we scroll on
future bound
and sitting down.

Compromise

I hope, in 20 something years, my kids will see American Beauty and they will ask me about the plastic bag.
“Did you really use them?” the way we ask about cigarette ads and people not using sun-cream. Did youreally think that was a good idea?
12 seconds use for 100 years, waiting around for it to break down. They’ll point out that every one I used, every one my parents used, and their parents still, are here. Waiting around in some trash-pile limbo. A limp body to preserve some fast rotting fruit.
And I’ll tell them it’s true. That I did, we all did. That we packed things that would perish in plastic that will never die.

They’ll look at take away coffee cups and water bottles, in reruns of shows I watched growing up and
they’ll ask again.
“Did you not know?” Does the night follow day, does the tide change? “Did you no see where they
went?”
To the piles and piles on someone else’s doorstep. Wade though bottles and cups, though water you cant drink, bottled for someone else. Shipped off and sent back, in a plastic husk, to thank you.
They will ask how I could take and not give and not notice.

And I’ll say “It saved time.” We were all in such a rush, so we mad little compromises.

Every day.
Until one day, we too were compromised.

Retrograde 1.4 // FUTURE //Fall.Winter 2018
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