Sean J. Mahoney
He did not fall alone
When He fell he did not fall alone.
And those others, those fallen souls
hunt tirelessly. Not the weak, nor
the strong, the infirm or the young
will remain free so long as there be
swift confusion and babbling for truth.
It is promise serving as the spoon-feeding.
It is promise filling the glass with blood
and tainted water. It is promise allied
with a dead cold eye and cruel hand
marking foreheads, staving the course
of being, stealing air and biting throats.
When He fell he did not fall alone:
terror begat alerts which begat the bar
which begat the cell and finally prison.
Still the fallen came, hungering for that
pulse what was taken from garden and
from school and stripped from heartland.
They came for factory and union people.
By night they closed out the clerks, nurses
and watchmen; impaling the public as well
as its servants the fallen broke the damn
place and left only the bold lie, the sign of
the double cross, and crumbs of stale bread.
Sean J. Mahoney‘s poems have appeared in Wordgathering, Breath & Shadow, Nine Mile Magazine, OTV Magazine, Catamaran Literary Reader, and Antithesis Journal, among others. Sean helped create the Disability Literature Consortium. He lives with his wife, her mother, two Uglydolls, and three dogs in Santa Ana, California, and works in geophysics.
SUBMIT to What Rough Beast via our SUBMITTABLE site.
If you want to support the mission and work of Indolent Books, consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Indolent Arts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity.