January Sixth

Let us not forget
how we heard the crack of the breach
in every state, the unholy war

with bloated flags waving
dishonorably, whipping
in the felonious wind

Let us not forget
the terrorism of groupthink
the righteous pounding and shattering

the victims in their glory
holding blue-line banners
while violating blue lives

Let us not forget
what we saw in real-time
the slurs we heard

the trashing of Jesus
of our tax dollars
our house a crime scene

Let us not forget
the present disremembering
of the big lie

how it is in the past now
consequences suffered only
by the dead

Diane Vogel Ferri’s full-length poetry book is Everything is Rising. Her latest novel is No Life But This: A Novel of Emily Warren Roebling. Her essays and poems can be found in numerous journals. Her other books are Liquid Rubies (poetry), The Volume of Our Incongruity (poetry), and The Desire Path (novel). Her poem, For You, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net 2023. Read other articles by Diane.