Home to Roost
by Arya F. Jenkins / February 24th, 2019
I take a walk
The pavement is uneven
The streets ugly
The houses worn
Tired as their inhabitants
Poor as a third world country
But this is where I live
At least there are no bombs falling
Yet
And no one has been shot today
Do you see how the calamities infringed by this power
Are coming home now?
Do you see how the militant kindness we
Inflicted for decades–
Imposed religions
Inappropriate democracies
Chokeholds on the sacred
Have come back toxic into our belly?
Now the violence points inward and
Our privileged rage runs rampant
And like our cries goes
Unheeded
How can the rest of the world care as
It is still hurting
Still picking up the pieces of our hubris
The tattered emblems of this empire.
Arya F. Jenkins is a Colombian-American poet and writer whose poems have appeared in many journals and zines, most recently Hawaii Pacific Review, Jerry Jazz Musician, OyeDrum Magazine and Reverie Magazine. Poetry is forthcoming in The Ekphrastic Review and The Bookends Review. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has been widely anthologized. She is the author of four poetry chapbooks, a short story collection, Blue Songs in an Open Key (Fomite Press), and a novel, Punk Disco Bohemian (NineStar Press). Her latest poetry chapbook is Singing in the Dark (Alien Buddha Press, 2022).
Read other articles by Arya F., or
visit Arya F.'s website.
This article was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2019 at 8:02am and is filed under Poetry.
