as i stand – by brett “Fish” anderson 

 

as i stand before mountains

i stand

looking up

completely overwhelmed by the enormity

of the peaks towering over me

threatening to topple down on me

crush the very existence out of me

at any moment they so choose

 

i wonder

is that a small rock i see

starting to fall

one that will hit into

another of similar size

and set it rolling too

quickly starting an avalanche of

increasingly weightier stones

that are all honing in

on my direction

and all i can do is stand and wait

and hope

that something

or someone will

miraculously intervene

 

but as i stand horrified

mortified

paralysed

frozen to the ground

i have a lucid moment of realisation

that this tsunami of stones

is not headed in my direction at all

for a moment i breathe in…

 

but that breath is as quickly punched out of me

like a full force punch to the stomach

and as i am rocked to the ground

my eyes close for just a second

before flashing open

to take stock of what is happening

away from me

a thundering of sound so loud

as wave upon wave of unbreachable mayhem

sweeps down the mountain

towards the villages below

 

a village made up of women

wearing tape over their mouths

arms tied behind their backs

wearing questionable clothing

daring to walk a street alone

or meet a friend for a drink

or simply try to make it through a single day

without a glance

or a word

or a feel

a demand

or misguided insinuation

she does not belong to you

 

women so distracted

by the insect swarm around them

constantly biting at their arms

their legs, their faces

tiny little winged questions

that come in again and again

on a kamikaze mission

as if to suck all the life

out of her

so that she ends up crying

in a rolled up ball in the corner

too weak to fight any more

and certainly not paying attention

to the mountaintop

that is rushing down to meet her

 

a second village stands in the path

of this rising swarm

of blustery boulders

that are crashing mercilessly

towards it

completely unaware

of their impending doom

as they stand with broken backs

broken blacks

and other people of colour

who are tired and weak

from carrying the weight

of the fragmented shards

of the politician-encrusted rainbow

that was strapped across their shoulders

while their white counterparts

were left deeply puzzled

and arguing

about the type of animal

that had been arted

on top of the foam

of their flat white

 

or still others

who had fled from nearby lands

only to land at the very bottom of the heap

trying to scrape their way to the top

while being held back by those

who had grown tired of occupying the very bottom rung

they might have noticed the deluge of destruction

that was bearing down on them

if only they had not been distracted by

trying to get their foreign tongues around

the abstract emotions we had written

on their name tags

as words we were

accustomed to saying

and getting right

first time around

 

i stand horrified

mortified

paralysed

frozen to the ground

recalling a lucid moment of realisation

that this tsunami of stones

is not headed in my direction at all

but knowing that i must do something

anything

some thing that will make

some kind of difference

to the devastating

chaos that is about to ensue

 

i reach for my phone

as i wonder if i will have enough

time to call emergency services

and if i make it through

will they even come at all

when suddenly

out of the corner of my eye

i see a grey flash

i slowly turn my head…

a squirrel!

cute little thing

carefully making its way

across a branch that surely

is too light for his weight

i stand mesmerised

slowly lifting my phone

to eye level

while noiselessly clicking

it on to camera

and manage to capture

the most magnificent shot

just in time

as i turn away

to walk back to my car

i fumble through the filters

hoping to make this

just right

before i click send.