As the President of the United States Tweets about Russians and his polls, I shave my legs on the cold, enameled edge of a white tub A truck driver in the next town sleeps soundly in a chair exhausted from his three-day trip with a refrigerated trailer to the coast An ER nurse holds an inconsolable mother whose child died of an overdose Somewhere in Lancaster a lantern in a barn illuminates the bearded face of a farmer wiping down twin newborn calves In Cleveland two brothers help their mother load groceries into a car that may not start At the base of the Sandias a middle-aged Chicano woman registers for classes and prays that her papers are ducks in a row A retired rancher and his wife outside Jackson Hole grill trout and make salad A farmer in Utah says grace before a roast While a jogger’s feet slap against the Chicago pavement A young mother in Anaheim cries as she reads about the horror of war or rioting or another shooting Mitch McConnell’s 24 million dollar smile fills the screen as a homeless child digs behind the restaurant for a garbage dinner and 18 percent of Kentuckians live in poverty, poverty. Disconnected, we plow our fields Detached, we watch the news Divided, we vote for our team.
Wanderings and Reflections