“…the American political poem is a safe poem.”
—from “Political Poetry” by Kwame Dawes
A daughter asks her mother if humanitarian is the
same thing as volunteer. They are an American
family – a wine-salesman, a teacher, far from political.
For years, the only way to speak was to lie. Have you brushed today? Yes. Are you still in bed? No. Have you eaten since yesterday? Yes.
who
more inhumane
than
who
more brutal
than
who
who
pounded
bloodied
broken
My papa’s papa used to run after the wooden cart of prasadam
each dawn for food
Young feet bleeding over the rough road.
All my life I’ve wanted to knit an aardvark
not this endless succession of zebras—
black and white wool seems sterile
and the stripes never come out lifelike.
Image: “Yellow Flowers” by Carla Paton. “For a Robot” was written by Alison Bailey for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, September 2023, and selected as the Artist’s Choice. (PDF / JPG)