by Susannah Palmer Loiselle
Arriving on industrial flatbed trucks,
huge words that fell from liars’ lips,
‘democracy,’ ‘freedom,’ and ‘liberty,’
scarred, twisted; suffering so much bad luck.
It took ten men to unload and appraise
the damage. Triage. Could any survive
the tearing, wrack and abuse? Cracked on all sides,
so deep in those words they might not be saved.
Yet, if each worker handling them treats
each letter with care, to strengthen and repair
restoring them to their former luster and flair,
then hang them high, each to each;
and if better leaders could be found
this banner will never touch the ground.
Susannah Palmer Loiselle lives with her family near rural Locke, NY. She is a retired school librarian and has taken many writing and art classes at Wells College. She has been a part of the Fiction section of Syracuse’s YMCA Downtown Writer’s Program for the past two years. She has published poems in several literary journals and anthologies. In 2004, her chapbook, God Speaks to Me at the Salvation Army Thrift Store, was published. Her photography has been published in The Healing Muse and in Central New York Magazine. Recently, three of her photographs were on display at the Delavan Gallery in Syracuse. She concerns herself with matters of nature, mysticism, politics, spirituality, individuality, and history in her writing and photography.
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