Monday, March 18, 2019

MAKING OF AN ENEMY

by Nan Ottenritter




Last year, American Bridge submitted a FOIA request when it was reported that Trump’s former head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement kept a spreadsheet of information on pregnant minors in his care, including whether the minor had asked for an abortion. Those documents were finally received and Rachel Maddow made them public on March 15, 2019.


after Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”


From border’s legal crossing I fell into the State.
And I nurtured a rape child in my belly.
Fourteen years old, separated from parents,
Dates of assault, menstrual cycle tracked,
Caged, and baby birthed, I became State’s enemy,
And you wonder why.


Nan Ottenritter is a poet and musician who lives in Richmond, VA.