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Nepenthe


by Gary Hardaway


Before our language made its way
to papyrus, stone and clay,
we sought escape from stress and boredom
through discoveries of beer and wine
and medicinal powers of herbs and fungi.
While the kings invented architecture
as stones thrown against impermanence and death,
lesser folk explored the more
deliverative effects of biochemistry.
Alas, the wind, the rain
and plate tectonics take temples,
fire and sediment papyrus and clay,
and those still breathing wake from stupor
to confront another day.
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