The Lines We Can Not Cross Back

 

The Lines We Can Not Cross Back

 

Each point, of no return.

Pointless hypothesis:

To dip a mosquito

in stagnant water

shall compel it

to devolve and survive

as a wriggler.

 

No, that will be its end:

 

To enclose a butterfly

within a cocoon again

is entombment.

 

To submerge a human

in a chamber

of amniotic fluid

is death by drowning.

 

 

Karlo Sevilla

 

Karlo Sevilla of Quezon City, Philippines is the author of the full-length poetry collection “Metro Manila Mammal” (Soma Publishing, 2018) and the chapbook “You” (Origami Poems Project, 2017). Recognized among the Best of Kitaab 2018 and twice nominated for the Best of the Net, his poems appear or are forthcoming in Philippines Graphic, Ariel Chart, DIAGRAM, Small Orange, Black Bough Poetry, The Wombwell Rainbow, Line Rider Press, Melbourne Culture Corner, Quince Magazine, Last Leaves, Raven, 3 Moon Magazine, and elsewhere. He is also one of the contributors to “Pandemic: A Community Poem,” Muse-Pie Press’s nominated poem for the 2020 Pushcart Prize.