A Tidal Wave Poem

by Gil Hoy / February 16th, 2025

in my dream, the strongman threw my pages
of poems into a wastebasket and told me
not to write another poem about democracy.
no more poems about human rights
and fundamental freedoms, free and fair
elections, independent branches of government,
freedom of expression and press,
constitutional guarantees of civilian authority.
no more poems about democratic principles
that fashioned my poems, they, that turned chaos
and madness into people power, would no longer
have permission to enter my poems. so instead,
I wrote a tidal wave poem about a tidal wave coming.
not an about-democracy or about-democratic principles
type of poem, not a poem about diversity and inclusion,
one man-one vote, international law, or equal justice
under the law. no, this poem was about a tidal wave.
a tidal wave so strong and so powerful,
so potent and so heavy, it could destroy evil
in its path. a tidal wave thousands of miles long
propelled by the strength of the sun,
the moon and the earth. a tidal wave so
demanding so dominant that his eyes
and his lungs looked drowned.
a tidal wave that yelled
don’t ever fuck with my country again. 
a tidal wave so powerful, so so heavy
and strong, that, yes, it deserves its own poem.

Gil Hoy is a Best of the Net nominated Tucson, Arizona poet and writer who studied fiction and poetry at The Writers Studio in Tucson, Arizona and at Boston University. Hoy previously received a B.A. in Philosophy from Boston University, an M.A. in Government from Georgetown University, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. Hoy is a semi-retired trial lawyer and a former four-term elected Brookline, MA Selectman. His poetry and fiction have previously appeared in Third Wednesday, Flash Fiction Journal, Tipton Poetry Journal, Unlikely Stories Mark V, Chiron Review, The Galway Review, Right Hand Pointing, Rusty Truck, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, The Penmen Review,  Last Stanza Poetry Journal, Bewildering Stories, Literally Stories, The New Verse News and elsewhere. Read other articles by Gil.

This article was posted on Sunday, February 16th, 2025 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.