Poetry

Abandoned

A staged ambush and a free-for-all

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

The moon rose / the sun sank
No - the sun rose / the moon sank
into a free-fall of boorish discordance

And with it, the slashing and burning began,
scorching the land / and whipped by the winds
the mountains, the forests, and rivers drew blank

Oh, America of the North, you have caused me grief
and I have many a time numbed at the sore realization
of how much I needed you for my sanity / my stability

But now the revelation — you, a place of dissonance,
of only black or white, no variegated grey or brown,
have lost your ethos, your quintessence

Flanking the altar of ferocious power, a gluttonous cry
/ a cliched ‘One for all and all for one” / ricochets
the walls in a brawl of red-faced glower

And as you turn away to bolt
the latch, a metallic shiver
befalls me, and I scream
and beg you to hand
me a sword sharp
enough to slice
the umbilical
cord

Security / an anaemic word
Solicitude / a shortfall
goddammit …