not the white cliffs of Dover, but our own steep igneous face,
weathered to the core, all fossilized
values chipped away—with pick, with chisel—
while the granite-grey sledgehammer in the room
of House and Senate smashes three hundred million
blue-collar manufactured piggy banks
into bipartisan shards, and the coins, their faces
likewise eroded, cascade like water-
falls.
Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published 8 poetry collections, 2 children's books, and over 400 poems, stories, and essays in journals and anthologies. Co-editor of Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, she is the recipient of numerous awards.