COUNSELOR: Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
CALLER: Some say the world will end in fire,
COUNSELOR: So you’ve been watching the news. Jerusalem or North Korea?
CALLER: Some say in ice.
COUNSELOR: Or the bomb cyclone?
CALLER: From what I’ve tasted of desire / I hold with those who favor fire.
COUNSELOR: Yeah, that’s the terrifying part. That the people in charge seem to want a war.
CALLER: But
COUNSELOR: Like they care about their approval ratings more than the long-term consequences. Like–
CALLER: if it had to perish twice,
COUNSELOR: What, you mean like a zombie apocalypse?
CALLER: I think I know enough of hate
COUNSELOR: That sounds more like an angry ghost–holding onto enough hostility to bring them back so they get–
CALLER: To say that
COUNSELOR: Or tweet it.
CALLER: for destruction
COUNSELOR: Yeah, it’s amazing how much harm a few words can cause.
CALLER: ice
COUNSELOR: What, you mean those people who round up immigrants and break up families? Like they don’t realize that an American family, even one that comes from somewhere else–
CALLER: Is also great
COUNSELOR: Exactly! And they think they’ll make us great again by kicking people out, when they could focus on rebuilding infrastructure, or creating jobs, or renewable energy, or … or…
CALLER: And would suffice.
COUNSELOR: Yeah, and. I also like and.