The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge! 

Settling on Mars
by Marge Simon 

I don’t mind the cold so much, but he does.

I can’t get him out of bed, just to walk around.

This isn’t good for your muscles, I say.

.

I would give him my own ration of broth

but it would never pass his clenched lips.

We have been in the bunker for many weeks.

Provisions and oxygen are almost gone,

& above, the unending thunder of bombs.

.

Here was a new start for all of us from Earth.

We thought wars were over, we believed

our nations would settle here in peace.

.

We spoke a common language,

exchanged recipes, cosmetics,

tips for ailments, like the headaches

we get from breathing recycled air.

Came the day our governments intervened,

& we were not allowed to fraternize.

.

Birth control was a part of our contract,

but sometimes, something happens —

something that is not supposed to be.

He has withdrawn from life, from us.

Our child will die with me.

.

All this way we’ve come,

& nothing is settled here.

Fiction © Copyright Marge Simon
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Marge Simon:

Cast from Darkness
by Marge Simon and‎ Mary Turzillo

Cast from Darkness is another triumphant collaboration between award-winning Speculative poets, Marge Simon and Mary Turzillo.

The poetry includes themes running the spectrum of the speculative genres and forms ranging from the haiku through many nuances of vere libre to the prose poem.

Available on Amazon!