Killer News
by Odin Roark

Closing the news hour
TV anchor puppets
having relinquished
with sanguine tact
their last titillating "Breaking News"...
a Brooklyn liquor store
a Korean Town grocery
security cameras spewing forth
shotgun blasts
making forever ragged holes
in stocking masks threatening life

Gazing wide eyed into the cameras
Dick and Jane
bob and weave feigned sadness for death
imbuing their syrupy pitch
toward one last ratings grab

Muting inane comments
we watch
far north
a momentary ice break

Up they arch
black and white rainbows
lunging to survive
as their ballet flight
hastens our tears

Orcas in trouble
will they
won't they
realize their next breath

Such a small opening this
amidst dropping temperatures
beckoning more moving ice
continuing natural closure

Panicked

The pod relays
instinctual reaction
family upon family
porpoising their orderly love
sharing their moment of
blowhole desperation

Gasping for life
determined to outrun
nature's imperative
they incessantly repeat
their cycle of urgency
arresting the eyes of some viewers
boring others

Some click a remote
find more programming
catering to bullet and blood satiation

Some turn off remotes
sit silent and immobile
save the subtle shake of their heads
considering
allowing
hoping

The following days
reports confirm
the Orcas have left the breathing hole
back under the ice they've disappeared
carrying out their perilous quest
for North Atlantic waters

Moved by the mammals' courage
some review the rare images
granting reflection
making life's quintessential instinct irrefutable

survival