red a web
of white cracks
cheap worn MAGA design
crooked to the right
on a v-neck tee
perhaps unfit
for public use
chosen without thought
for this quick trip
but comfort trumps
what others think
is right
forced to wait
within this great
equalizing line
her grocery cart
not nearly full
enough her fear
overflowing
she knows
the China virus has killed
our future but this is now
it's family first
greatness requires a roof
and is fed by
a full stomach
so she accepts government
money the politics of help
is meaningless
tempted by racks
of snacks distract-
ed by the headlines
"My baby was abducted by Dems!"
"Zoom daters' secret love confessions"
"Ivanka communicates with aliens!"
her smile means
her strength will endure
tired blue a few
frayed threads hanging
sad donkey-tailed work
shirt over-used denim
once abused now rescued
from her husband
too-big buttons on
the wrong side hid-
ing "Nevertheless, she persisted"
across her chest
her grocery cart full
of trepidation wobbly
wheels of jittery nerves
forced
to wait in these lines
to wear this mask
to stand behind this plane
of plexiglas the pain
of separation wanting
to forget what she remembers
a hug a stranger's smile
a news report that isn't
political or balanced
simply the verbs and the nouns
of the world without
all these adjectives
written into her child's
fragile future this
hollow victory of cause
without effect
she waits behind
a lady in a MAGA shirt
and as she sighs catches
the smile in her eyes
and from her husband's shirt
his lingering scent means
her strength will endure
green a scene
ahead when amber goes
unseen to red an intersection
where we're required to meet
nothing
is suddenly met with chaos
perhaps a texting driver
looking down
now bound within the nouns
and verbs of wreckage and
of future news
a MAGA tee runs towards
mayhem a motorcycle jacket
runs to help his colors
on his back a suit and tie
tries to render aid
a teenage skirt
waiting to cross
now soaked in red as she
presses her hand to block
the insult while
"God and Country Music"
directs traffic and the donkey-
tailed work shirt
now undone
talks to 9-1-1
"Nevertheless, she persisted"
America has paused
a small cause at the intersection
where politics dies replacing
all our cares with this bloody
affair melting into pools
of red under a blue
sky we suddenly are this land
beyond words on tee shirts
and
our strength will endure