18: ROOTS

Joel Deane: King Kong

They brace the building with steel
-lucky wings snapped from the Bay Bridge-
spray down the brick warehouse walls
with an anti-earthquake (placebo) spray.
Claim we could survive a Loma Prieta replay,
but exit before the pile drivers start to pound
and the steel supports begin to hum and torque
like King Kong's goddamn tuning fork.

Joel Deane lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for six years and innumerable earthquakes. His first novel, 'Another', won the IP Picks Award for Best Fiction and will be published by Interactive Press this year. A collection of his poetry, 'Subterranean Radio Songs', was commended for the IP Picks Award for Best Poetry.