Lisa Alvarez
She Fears: A Villanelle
She fears his mob more than the man
the flag not hers when in their hands
when he is gone, they still will stand
conspiracy converts the land
an anthem stung into command
she fears that mob more than their man
she reads their signs: demand demand
bright torches, chants, night-roaming klans
when he is gone, they will still stand
they have been waiting, like the sands
for a late tide that drowns the land
she fears this mob more than the man
recalling plans of other clans
when candles gently lit the land
When he is gone, still will they stand?
Interrogate the past they brand!
Barricade our hearts, our held hands!
She fears his mob more than their man.
When he is gone, will we still stand?
Lisa Alvarez’s poetry and prose have appeared most recently in in Faultline, Huizache, Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica Review, Truthdig, and Zocalo Public Square, as well as in the anthologies Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-Short Stories from the United States and Latin America (W. W. Norton & Company, 2010), edited by Robert Shapard, James Thomas, and Ray Gonzales; and Only Light Can Do That: 100 Post-Election Poems, Stories & Essays.(The Rattling Wall and PEN Center USA, 2017). She earned an MFA in fiction from UC Irvine and has taught creative writing and composition for 25 years at a community college in Orange County.
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