by Susan Kay Anderson
New leaves strive
to take the place
of blossoms
even if they
don't bear fruit
there are
so many flowers
hanging above
the cold ground down down
winter's tomb
tomorrow's rooftop.
The foreign countrymen spray
into the pushing crowd
marking where the land breaks faces
cheeks eyes mouths
weeds needing killing. Pulling. Before sunset.
Rolling razor wire
someday we’ll be sitting
at a table remembering how
saying why.
Susan Kay Anderson lives in southwestern Oregon’s Umpqua River Basin. Her long poem "Man’s West Once” was selected for Barrow Street Journal’s “4 X 2 Project” and is included in Mezzanine (2019). Anderson also published Virginia Brautigan Aste’s memoir Please Plant This Book Coast To Coast (2021).