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I want to say what my country is like,
to speak the wonder of its cities,
the roads along its farm fields,
even while the gears grind
of so many people trying to agree
that the sun still rises in the east,
and not in the west or elsewhere.
So, if I say there are blind eagles
decorating the porches,
we sigh because the words
stink of symbolism and ash,
of mythic fires choking us.
The smoke obscures our mirrors
so they no longer reflect
what we need to know
about ourselves, or who we call
to the front: that the dictator
of a day, outlaws every tomorrow.
Michael T. Young’s third full-length collection, The Infinite Doctrine of Water, was longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. He received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. His chapbook, Living in the Counterpoint, received the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award. His poetry has been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac. It has also appeared or is forthcoming in numerous journals including The Journal of New Jersey Poets, Mid-Atlantic Review, Talking River Review, and Vox Populi.