StylusLit

March 2019

Back to Issue 5

Force Majeure

By Richard James Allen

As per our agreement, I have 

no feelings for you, and 

you none for me, beyond

the natural empathy one

civilized human being feels  

for another, but please receive

this formal written notification,

sent in a timely manner

in order that both parties

be freed from liability

or obligation for any failure

or delay in the performance

of this agreement

as a result of events

beyond the control

of either party which

may be likely to occur,

or have actually occurred,

superior force events

which could not reasonably

have been foreseen

or provided against,

and which could not

therefore have been evaded

through the exercise

of due care. It is as if

gaps are appearing  

beneath our feet, as if    

the floor is being ripped 

apart by an earthquake,

as if mother earth herself

wereexploding in slow motion

like the last inevitable,

un-turn-back-able, barely

perceptible units of time,

Buddhists would call ksana,      

when we both know

you are about to come,

underneath me,    

or beside me,     

or on top of me,

and there is no ceiling,

and no walls,

and no floor.