Reading “Search Patrols,” I marvel that so much feeling, so many layers, can exist in so few lines. If you have time, listen to the podcast, which includes discussion of the poem as well as Kaminsky’s dramatic reading.
My poem, ‘Scarecrow Votes,” is up at Vox Populi, alongside Jenne Andrews’ call for revolution. Trump’s horrific separation of families policy must end! Thank you to Michael Simms for responding and publishing the poem so quickly.
Will the center hold? Read C’s poem for her opinion. I’m uncertain, but have hope.
See the dust
encrusted with dry rock
and you don’t think
flood zone,
water scouring sage brush
instead of brittle wind,
but it’s happened.
Block ice slouches
in the glass, dessert heat
demostrates the facility
of state change.
See a lazy wheeling hawk,
think gyre, gyre,
getting wider–
do things really fall apart?
Or just slump forward
in apathy?
Define a hole:
a lack of matter–
evil is nothing
but the absence
of empathy.
Say evil is nothing, see,
evil is nothing.
The hawk flies off.
Say in Bethlehem,
oh, whatever.
Say a clear blue sky
as if it belies
the existence of rain,
and when that hillside goes
pretend to be surprised–
say it, say it,
it couldn’t happen here.
I’ve just found, and followed, David Meeker’s impressive blog, 20th Century Protest Poetry: Poems That Make a Difference. Scrolling down the home page, you’ll find relevant poems, including Carolyn Forche’s “The Colonel,” Roethke’s “The Geranium,” and Nazim Hikmet’s “Letters from a Man in Solitary,” preceded by brief introductory essays. I wish I’d found this sooner, but will make up for lost time.
O at the Edges 