RJ Ingram

At the End of the World

Time travelers ride rabbits through the naval reserve & stop on E Street to take in the view from the cliff / An airstream yellows as it falls to earth but disappears miles before it even gets close to Port Angeles / Fathers sporting creased work pants  bring  in the  yard signs  before the  weathermen  warn  of rain  /  Mothers weigh   their tomatoes in  the self checkout as they debate returning the glossy magazine & its assassination   attempt play-by-play  / Errands   at the end of the world continue to get expensive / Children shoot foam darts at the rabbits but never strike even though that S’Klallam kid in Mrs. White’s fourth grade science class swears he shot one on the butt last May / No one was around to see it except his sister & she says the qaʔqiʔcə́y̕ vanished with the pop of the trigger / The rabbits who take advantage of all the unregulated intersections will run the town someday   /  They will probably  get around to putting up stop signs if the rabbits directing traffic approve a strike / A retired time traveler once told me blinks only happen when he drinks so now the thrills he chases can’t be bottled up or sold in barrels which means they’re harder to find but much cheaper / Harvey told me to keep looking forward when we got to the cliff / But Frank’s the one who can’t help but look back / Maybe that’s why this is where every sentence comes to drop off / Maybe that’s why so many end up in coastal towns watching children chase rabbits & waiting on craftsman style porches for the world to end.

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RJ Equality Ingram works as a used bookseller for Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette & lives with their husband & two cats next to a cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Their debut poetry collection The Autobiography of Nancy Drew was published by White Stag in 2024. More work can be found in Deep Overstock, The Citron Review, Phoebe Journal, Miniskirt Magazine, among others. Find them online @RJ_Equality.