As giant ants march ahead in nightly arrays

Demonstrating against the ruling humans

Along the main street of every major city

Hordes of vampires flood in,

Screaming aloud,

Riding on hyenas and octopuses,

Waving skeletons in their hairy hands,

Whipping at old werewolves

Or all-eyed aliens standing by

With their blood-dripping tails

 

Gathering behind the masses are ghosts and spirits

Of all the dead, victims of fatal diseases

Murders, rapes, tortures, wars, starvation, plagues

Led by deformed devils and demons

As if in an uprising, to seek revenge

On every living victor in the human shape

Some smashing walls and fences,

Others barbecuing human hearts like inflated frogs

Still, others biting at each other’s soul around dark fires

All in a universal storm of ashes and blood

 

Up above in the sky is a red dragon flying by

With a heart infected by the human virus

 

_____

Yuan Changming published monographs on translation before leaving China. Currently, Yuan edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include  Pushcart nominations, Jodi Stutz Award in Poetry (2020) & publications in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17),& BestPoemsOnline, among 1,709 others across 45 countries.

Photo Credit: Photo by Andre Moura from Pexels