American Revenge
It happens every year
like clockwork
the comments about how it
seems impossible
that yet another year has
passed
and yet
here we are.
I wonder how long it will
take some people to realize
that anniversaries keep
coming.
It’s what they do.
And everywhere you go,
there they are,
two shining buildings
lit up against a skyline
I can barely remember at
this point
or worse
the explosion
the fire
the collapse
the seconds of death that
stretched into decades of death.
I wonder about those
people,
the ones that hate my
city
hate the gay pride parade
hate the Puerto Rican
pride parade
Or j’ouvert
hate the Black Lives
Matter marches
or the Refuse Fascism
gatherings
hate everything this city
stands for
on all the days except
today.
How today feels like it
belongs to them
like it is not a day of
reflection and mourning
like it is not a moment
to think about the lives
that have been shattered
but instead
it feels clawing,
hysterical,
their white fingers
gripping
fiercely waving that flag
not with pride
but with retaliation.
The way today feels like
just another opportunity
for
American revenge.
--Ally Malinenko
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