Tuesday, February 09, 2021

JANUARY SIXTH

by Diane Vogel Ferri


The Jan. 6 rally of Trump supporters before the assault on the Capitol.Credit: Nina Berman/NOOR/Redux via The New York Times.


Let us not forget 
how we heard the crack of the breach
in every state, the unholy war

with bloated flags waving
dishonorably, whipping
in the felonious wind

Let us not forget
the terrorism of groupthink
the righteous pounding and shattering

the victims in their glory
holding blue-line banners
while violating blue lives

Let us not forget 
what we saw in real-time
the slurs we heard

the trashing of Jesus
of our tax dollars
our house a crime scene

Let us not forget
the present disremembering
of the big lie

how it is in the past now
consequences suffered only
by the dead


Diane Vogel Ferri is a teacher, poet, and writer living in Solon, Ohio. Her essays have been published in Scene Magazine, Cleveland Stories, Yellow Arrow Journal, and Good Works Review among others. Her poems can be found in numerous journals such as Plainsongs, Rubbertop Review, and Poet Lore. Her previous publications are Liquid Rubies (poetry), The Volume of Our Incongruity (poetry), The Desire Path (novel) and her newest novel No Life But This: A Novel of Emily Warren Roebling.