From the Starbucks at Safeway

Laura Cherry

For Molly

My friend, awake two nights without

her breathing machine due to a "planned"

power outage, ninety minutes from the nearest

hotel, no generator, no gas, no ice, no rest,

messages from the supermarket wi-fi to say

she is intact, grumpy, lonely, fine. It's just

climate change, wildfire prevention, corporate

malfeasance, the sacrifice of one kind of safety

for another. It's murder. It's complicated.

Who am I to complain, says my friend,

weeping at the news from Syria,

just trying to sleep and to keep breathing.