when all the world did die at once

I used to see the sun
back when
setting
and rising
were things the sun did
I'm told it still does it now
only
we never see it
the sun
which is just a name
we gave to our star
just one unimpressive star in a sea of countless cousins
I used to see stars too
I think
the moon too even
there was an endless ocean above our heads
upwards eternal
space to breathe
free range to grow
tall up
but we built a world that was too excited
seduced I think
by free growth
and
building up
we ground down everything around us
even our air
turned to hot soup
burned our throats
swollen tongues
boiled skin
waves of dying dying death
I remember the smell
when all the world did die at once
coastlines of swollen fish floating
lapping on the shore
collecting in piles
like the seaweed used to do
the snap end
on that one misery day
when bugs burned in their own bodies
birds fell from the sky and branches
animals were crazed
running toward anything that might be liquid
even when the asphalt burned the skin from their feet
all of us inside
watching our phones
AC on high
until the grid also died
in solidarity
it was almost funny
like omg
this is fucking wild
until it wasn't 
because the grid didn't come back on
not until days later
days
of
panicked water hoarding
panicked gas buying
but where would we go?
everything was cooking
flights cancelling
to avoid unrest they said
families trying to evacuate
to get to so-and-so's house by the lake
but the tires on their cars melted
because what's the opposite of snow chains?
and they were stranded
in direct sun
with nowhere to go
it's not a good death
everything was closed
hospitals overflowed into parking garages
there was no solution for the bodies
no refrigeration
generators couldn't be spared for that
and even though it was counter-intuitive
harmful even maybe
there were mass cremations
the optics
they said
not out loud
were better
than a mass burial
I heard it was worse in other places
screams and cries for days
until terrible fetid silence
with no one left
to be the griever
and then the rotting
even just the animal bodies
the rotting was unbearable
I was sick a lot
vomiting
I remember
they
the people in charge
decided they had to act
the time had come
for change
for new ways of being
they had to draw the shades
turn off the light
anything
to stop the assault
so it was decided
a multinational cloud seeding campaign
combined with a global particulate barrier in the upper atmosphere
was going to save us all
and
I guess it did
in a way
after that terrible summer
the long heat
we called it
cloud seeding began 
modified jets took off and wrapped their fingers around us all
they were heroes
Sunblock and New Sky
were my favorites
but there were so many others
and it worked
the seeding was completed before the next summer
it was a huge relief
telehealth appointments for emergency heat-anxiety therapy almost vanished overnight
but
I don't know if they thought it through
or at least
not all the way maybe
because
no one really goes out anymore
the wet-bulb is brutal
and 
now
children are born
and they don't know what sunshine feels like
and they don't wish on stars
so that nursery rhyme is pretty confusing and hard to explain
and they don't stay up late 
on the roof
or in the bed of a pick-up truck
to see an eclipse
no one slows down to point at how big the moon looks 
because it's not there
or
it is 
but we can't see it
nature is in a kind of disarray all over
seasons upended
farmers got subsidies
to go vertical and move underground
and anyway
plants only grow
under UV lamps
so yeah
most places have had to do food rationing
not here
we've been blessed I think
but
it's worse in other places
we send money to help of course
when we can
and prayer
but
yeah
we're doing okay
I think it's better
it's getting better
we're still alive
and we're still growing
which is good

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