“As we look at the cultural and political landscape, we ask:
‘What does it mean to be complicit in 2017?’” —Dictionary.com
A word with soft syllables,
like a snake slithering in the grass.
Silent but deadly.
Who gets bitten if I step away?
If I wait for someone else to speak?
The president’s daughter
said she didn’t know
what the word meant,
denied wrongdoing.
We can’t be guilty
if we do nothing.
Right?
Jacqueline Jules is the author of the poetry chapbooks Field Trip to the Museum, Stronger Than Cleopatra, and Itzhak Perlman’s Broken String, winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press. Her work has appeared in over 100 publications including TheNewVerse.News, The Rising Phoenix Review, What Rough Beast, Public Pool, and Gargoyle.