Everything is a little damaged now.
Even the things you buy new, like a book
or a chair. Long lines at the return counter.
The country is a little damaged too,
or maybe a lot. People’s ability
to speak honestly stunned by threat, even
churches preaching the gospel of force.
Best turn away from the gambling dens
of the pollsters, twist the radio knob
to cut off the loud voice in mid-sentence.
Walk down some quiet street in your town
that’s loved you. Trust the kindnesses received
and especially the kindnesses you’ve given.
That goodness can’t be voted out of your heart.
Thomas R. Smith’s recent books are a poetry collection Medicine Year (Paris Morning Publications) and a prose work Poetry on the Side of Nature: Writing the Nature Poem as an Act of Survival (Red Dragonfly Press). He lives in western Wisconsin near the Kinnickinnic River.