January 20, 2021
And so tomorrow
I will not wake up early and check my phone
for the latest terrible thing that has struck my country
Doomscrolling in the dawn of each new day
But will greet the sunrise and yawn
And go back to sleep, the cat curled by my feet
Secure that someone with knowledge
Has the wheel of this ship of state.
January 6, 2021
Let me lead you Thomas Turner
Through the marble halls of the Capitol
The seat of our democracy
This New Nation you helped create
Windows have been smashed
Blood smeared on statues
Door jambs wrecked by metal bats
Feces tramped on marble floors
Not by the British who lit fires here
In 1814
And never by the Confederates—
Although their traitors’ flag paraded through these halls
On this January 6th
Past the portrait of Charles Sumner
Supporter of the Union,
Almost cane-whipped to death by a Son of the South
But by self-proclaimed patriots
Insurrectionists
Seeking to overturn a national election
And the votes of 80 million Americans
Blood was shed here
Hold me in your arms oh great-grandfather
And let me cry upon your shoulder