Photo by Mario Tassy on Unsplash
Joseph and the Multipurpose Coat by Charlie Espinosa
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"Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors." —Genesis 37:3
My father bought it for me
before the apocalypse, saying,
“Here, you might need this.”
He was right.
The 100% recycled nylon shell
is completely impervious to criticism.
When a fight breaks out
over who should bear the brunt
for forest fires or extinct whales,
The coat absolves me:
I simply point to the reclaimed down,
the organic GoodTrade™ stitching.
When oceans rise,
I stay bone-dry inside the elastic cuffs,
much to my drowning brothers’ envy.
Famine strikes
but I survive on freeze dried meals
stashed inside the insulated lining.
For seven years I roam
through looted malls and lonely roads,
the days scorching hot, my heart bitter cold.
One smoggy night,
locked inside the Gore-Tex walls,
I dream of a tree that burns but never falls.
My father’s voice
thunders from the glowing trunk,
“Joe, son, come on. You gotta spread the love.
“For God’s sake,
fill your pockets with my seeds
and give the coat to those in need.”
Awake, I vow to read
the dendro-dream. I follow
smoke signals through a maze of growth rings.
When I reach
the mighty, burning tree, I fall
on my knees to gather seeds from holy ash.
Flames consume
my flesh but still the coat remains intact.
As I die, I see a man appear in tattered rags.
“Excuse me, sir,”
he asks, “May I take your coat?”
“Yes,” I gasp, “Take it to a promised land.”