A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House
John Cross
Back to the Beginning
a child with a crayon spinning through the air
of a mostly invisible universe draws trees
& mountains lifting & falling with the breeze
draws one tiny man with wispy cockroach-leg hair
waiting for the firing squad he’s ordered
that’s meandered into the suburbs selling
sovereigntist anthems door to door
paper targets where their hearts should be
& the child imagines heat in a salt mine
near the hidden deep of the earth
that keeps pushing up red orange swirls
as any child might do & she scrawls
some forgotten word for how she feels right now
John Cross is the author of the poetry collection What Bleak Angels Carried Your Bed, forthcoming from Omnidawn Press, and the chapbook staring at the animal (Tupelo Press, 2009). His poems have appeared in journals including Volt, Lana Turner, and Yalobusha Review, among others. He teaches English at Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena and lives in Monrovia, Calif., with artist Christine Kiphart and a dog named Gordon.
Indolent Books and editor Michael Broder are back with another poem-a-day series as a creative response to the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House. The plan is to continue for all 1460 days of the 47th American presidency.
Find out how to submit poems or flash prose pieces to Second Coming.
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