Order; The Saguaro by A.R. Arthur

Order We drown daily in a deluge Of distortions and images; Widely disseminated narratives Of wanton carnage Until desensitized we submit To banal brutality; Destruction universally felt And aggressively driven By oldened men whose desire for legacies Spills over into baseless jargon And a maelstrom of violence Counted in drained corpses Awash in disturbed concrete. For fragmented promises Are lost on the departed Just as diplomacy is lost on the living. But one can hear the decay Breaking saturated soil, Churning to the sound Of morality lost To world orders diminished, Now shattered.

The Saguaro Ceremonious flowers flutter As nimble sand uncovers clandestine beauty Hidden by spiked shade; Grandiose shelter Overbearing. Then flowers appear As the naked eye roams A prodigious expanse Surrendered to obscene heat And worn by a celestial gaze Forever transiting a boundless sky; A testament to natural serenity Untouched by metropolitan expansion, And lovingly preserved by kindred flora Far more resolute than sentience could ever be.

A.R. Arthur (formerly A.R.Salandy) is a Black Mixed-race poet & writer who has spent most of his life in Kuwait jostling between the UK & America. Anthony's work has been published over 240 times internationally. Anthony's Flash Fiction was shortlisted and received an honourable mention in the 2022 The Dillydoun Flash Fiction Prize Competition. Anthony has 3 published chapbooks titled 'The Great Northern Journey' 2020 (Lazy Adventurer Publishing) & 'Vultures' 2021 (Roaring Junior Press) as well as a novel 'The Sands of Change' 2021 (Alien Buddha Press). Anthony's Chapbook 'Half Bred' was the Winner of the 2021 'The Poetry Question' Chapbook contest. Anthony is the EIC of Fahmidan Journal/Publishing & Co, Review Editor at Full House Literary & Poetry Editor at Chestnut Review.