A house on fire

The future is already here

Chances hanging by the last thread

Tombstones written in advance

Abandoned on the bookshelf

Weeping willows weep no more

Without a breeze to carry change

Development grew evermore

Across a barren land

A sterile existence takes its last breath

Inside, the faint buzz no longer stirs

Recycled air dulled perception

Then we lost connection

Sirens fade into the background

Windows closed

Doors locked to the world

Distance closes in

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in The Precipice, Camille’s third contemporary poetry collection. A house on fire reflects on the claustrophobic nearness of collapse — evoking environmental, social, and spiritual exhaustion in a world that has sealed itself off from change until even its warning signals begin to disappear.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print on textured recycled card.