lenten journal: here in america

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    1169

    Here in America

    we yell at each other as though
    anger were a pre-existing condition,
    and diatribe an anagram of democracy;
    but screaming doesn’t make it so:
    louder and truer are not synonyms —
    the same goes for rich and smart.

    Using poetry to talk politics
    is like giving a homework assignment
    to a gaggle of eighth graders:
    you can talk, but most aren’t listening;
    it takes, therefore, the tenacity of
    a middle school teacher to try . . .

    because both teacher and poet
    can name names: immigration is
    named Hugo and José and Miriam;
    health care is called Stross and Fez:
    the Word becomes Flesh
    and the shouting cannot put it out.

    Peace,
    Milton

    2 COMMENTS

    1. Very nice … I will have to show him. I predict at some point he will make a Stross declaration: “See, I told you I am famous.”

      🙂

      Blessings … and peace.

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