America in 2019

Lawless earth whereon the firemen burned,
Then fled, then thrice burned again; blood from

A bleeding brain, flowers where no flowers spring;
An ancient yoke now garroted around the penitent,

Crucifixion’s hour, benediction’s ring; abandoned
Plains of Babel nigh, where every wounded hearth

Did fall, bones strewn about the abbey, ancient
Grasses, undone sighs; screams from the drowning

Of the fairies, marching nigh unto the last gloaming,
The wretched left upon the wasteland, unmoved their

Pleading cries; enslaved to a flamethrower, an ape,
And a hyena with car batteries, duly cast upon

The offal, to collect the shards where dead dreamers
Lie; the hallowed brook, the soothing lullaby, the

Ineffable touch of an eye once sacred, all washed away
Unto the cataclysm, unbound the blood-red dawning

David Penner’s articles on politics and health care have appeared in Dissident Voice, CounterPunch, Global Research, The Saker blog, OffGuardian and KevinMD; while his poetry can be found at Dissident Voice, Mad in America, and redtailedhawk.substack.com. Also a photographer, he is the author of three books of portraiture: Faces of The New Economy, Faces of Manhattan Island, and Manhattan Pairs. He can be reached at 321davidadam@gmail.com. Read other articles by David.