Alison Garwood Jones

Joan is not the first to ponder the arc of civilizations.

They peak and then they fall.

The Romans, the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Americans.

She came of age during a peak.

Now she’s observing the fall.

Every day, relentless corruption, catastrophe, and systemic failure.

The centre isn’t holding.

She returns to the very same spot in her garden to ride it out.

The flowers turn to greet her. Bees orbit her body. And the sun catches the edges of her hair.

Dignity and beauty.