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Wednesday, June 16, 2021

BEFORE THE FIRE

by Marc Swan



"You say you want a revolution... " —John Lennon


Thoughts turn to the Founding Fathers
an oxymoron perhaps. I envision 
them around the hearth,
wooden tankards, pewter mugs in hand 
contemplating the future of this new land. 
Did they foresee manifest destiny—
a two-coast country, 
French and English speaking to the north, 
Spanish speaking to the south, 
expanse of prairie, native beasts hunted 
down, more importantly 
Indigenous peoples decimated 
in the name of a united states? 
What of states, 
offshoots of a federal land grab—
thirteen to start then the quest began. 
In framing that constitution written 
so long ago— 
a two-party system 
now stuttered and stalled,
amendments sporadic, difficult 
to achieve, did they envision
blue states on edge, thick-bellied
red center, chaos, political turmoil, 
climate wracked by indifference.
Settled in front of my hearth,
feet resting on the ottoman,
thoughts turn to 2022—
rivers rise, forests burn,
a black sky holds the night.


Marc Swan’s fifth collection, all it would take, was published in 2020 by tall-lighthouse (UK). Poems forthcoming in Chiron Review, Gargoyle, Steam Ticket, Coal City Review, among others. He lives in coastal Maine with his wife Dd, a maker and yoga teacher.