Fascism
You thought if you
blinded me,
I couldn’t see the sun,
but in my mind’s eye
I see a thousand suns,
each one brighter than
the last.
Timely
Timeliness was nextto cleanliness–and godliness–
we learned.
Arrive on time
Turn in your homework
on time.
Get to the job interview
on time.
The trains are running
on time.
Please be here
on time.
160,000 and counting
US citizens have died in
an untimely way–
some saying, “Well, her time
had come;”
others, “It wasn’t time
yet for him to go.”
In the quietude
of Pandemic hours,
where we float
in a heavy sea
without life jackets,
timely is no longer
relevant.
Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, it’s time
for what?
Yesterday we could claim
It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.
Today time is
breathless, exhausted,
a leading actress
pursued by evil
and greed.
Some of us hide
behind masks
wondering if there is enough
time
left.
Moira J. Saucer is a disabled poet who grew up in Hampton Roads, Virginia and now lives in the Alabama Wiregrass. “‘Timely” is a selection from Pandemic Party, a poem cycle in progress. Moira’s full length debut collection will be published in 2020-2021 by Ice Floe Press. She holds an MFA from the University of Arkansas Creative Writing Program and an MA from the University of Delaware. Her work has been published most recently by Failure Baler, Burning House Press, Visual Verse, Mookychick, and Fly on the Wall Press’ “The Weird and Wonderful” magazine.” She can be found on Twitter at @MJSEyesOpened.
Robert Frede Kenter is a writer, editor and visual artist, and the EIC of Ice Floe Press. His work has been published recently in Black Bough, Failure Bailer, Cypress Poetry, Anthropcene, Burning House Press and others. Tweets: @frede_kenter
Visual poem Fascism: handwritten text and pastel figures by Moira J. Saucer. Design and layout by Robert Frede Kenter.
Banner: Pandemic Drawing One by Robert Frede Kenter
IceFloe Press 