The Last Voyage: Island Relocation Program
The Last Voyage: Island Relocation Program
They came from nowhere We arrived on schedule
with a swarm of drones with everything needed
firing lasers into windows to duplicate the entire island
Buzzing, hungry robots A ballet of photos, capturing,
counting who was left preserving every inch of life
our names, our faces to ensure future living
They came with papers, We arrived with deeds & titles
uniforms, hard hats UN peacekeepers, architects
speaking strange English for deconstruction preservation
They came back with boxes, We returned with curators
crates, pointing fingers trained in transportation
we filled with our lives of worlds lost to history
We left with our shadows We left with an entire people
a people without a place with hope, with good will
we managed retreat with much work left to do
On the Western shore
of Lake Baikal they
hit print and homes
appeared, rising inch
by inch from hoses
attached to steel arms.
A gray slurry sloshed out
and our island unmelted
onto a tundra untouched
by a single ocean wave,
into this ghost of us.
People in blue helmets
unpacked our things
and put them back
in our copy-pasted homes
as if we already weren’t
here, and they counted
us as lucky, to unlive
the rest of our days
where we couldn’t see
the ocean finally take us
where we wanted to go.
Steve Wheat is a teacher, renewable energy professional, and writer. He has created virtual power plants across the United States and taught English and writing around the world. His work is an attempt to blend the many ways we can respond to a world in climate flux, both the horror and the acceptance of what is lost, and the joy and fortitude of embracing what comes next. He has been published in various magazines, most recently On Spec, Halfway Down the Stairs, and Alternating Current Press.
