GRIEF LINES ABOUT THE BROW
1-15-2022
I held grief at bay
in tightened fists
determined not to allow
its escape, until I lay
it down upon the page,
Where it sapped my strength.
Taking up the pen
is little help today
when the nib etches lines
of grief about my brow,
too close to allow the flow
of ink upon the page.
Democracy means more to those
More recently saved upon its shores.
The lands of autocrats and hypocrites,
we thought, had been left
behind, beyond our pained sight;
now resurrected by the Republican right.
A Right reinforced by clerics bent
on reasserting ties long rent
between church and state,
Now reinstated by the Court
and pro-life misogynist dictum
making women victims.
The Right backlash to Obama
is a fierce and hateful trauma
which dares to take away
our diversity and our vote,
our personhood and culture,
our history and democracy.
Grief is still heavy today
but less than yesterday.
Today ink flows steadily,
freely, hopefully daring leaders
to find the courage to save the vote,
and this beloved country.
annarino writes 