Walled In
He
assembled his bogeyman made
from the
bones of huddled masses
yearning
to be free from violence
and
poverty.
The heart
was molded from Muslims
longing to
see their families. He caged
the human
spirit and promised carnage
on the
streets for those who disobey.
The
fearful, aggrieved crowd cheered the taming
of this
brown monster of their own making as he
fed them
red meat like jailing his enemies
and
conjuring conspiracies to explain what
Lay in
plain sight. When we needed to
wall
ourselves in to save our own and our citizens’
health, he
encouraged the nation to remain open,
to flow
freely like blood spilled on the sidewalks
He sought
with his version of law
and
order. Contrary to science, contrary
to
expertise, he chose to be blind to what
the rest of
the world could see. The virus
Spread
like a red-hot summer heatwave.
The
underlying epidemic, which has been
circulating
in the United States for
four
hundred years also spiked.
Our
president lacks the strength to bend
the curve
as though he were confused
these
rising numbers represent our stock
market and
not how sick we are.
Once the
door to the free world of liberal
democracies
swung both open and shut.
Now it is
locked on both sides. We are
Stuck in
our living rooms alone
And forced
to look at our hideousness
borne from
the pathogen, like so many
that killed
that indigenous of this country
when the
first colonizers arrived.
Until we
regain some modicum of health,
until we
practice social distancing from
our
plantation mindset and until
we stamp
one exit visa in November
will a
vaccine be possible.
--Tom Lagasse
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