Are We Great Again Yet?

by Josh Medsker / April 28th, 2019

I’m walking down by the Kill
Van Kull, watching tugboats
pass Staten Island en route to
the Hudson River, lost in reverie

and it snaps me awake
my neck jerks up from my phone
and I blink.

This noose
thrown over the tree
by the dog park
the project houses
and the bodega pizzeria

My pace slows until I stand, dumbstruck.

Your words hung this here
this jarring reminder of fear
dredged up from

decades of grievances
unmanaged

and ignorance
willfully, now gleefully cultivated.

Josh Medsker is a New Jersey poet, originally from Alaska. "Two Notes on a Summer's Day" and last week's poem in Dissident Voice are both featured in his new chapbook, 10 Crass Poems. All proceeds from the book go to support the California Community Foundation's Wildfire Recovery Fund. You can purchase a copy via www.joshmedsker.com. Read other articles by Josh, or visit Josh's website.

This article was posted on Sunday, April 28th, 2019 at 8:03am and is filed under Poetry.