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| Art by Ann Telnaes |
Standing at attention, a silent sea
of the nation’s glittering medal-chested top brass
face the self-named “Secretary of War,”
who demands they trim their waistlines and words
as their ranks are filled by monochrome commanders
and uni-gender generals
required to speak in the single voice
of their Commander in Chief.
No longer facing foreign wars,
they will now be ordered to enforce martial law
on the families that raised them,
children like their own, neighbors
who shared their burdens and blessings,
compatriots with sons and daughters,
ancestors like theirs seeking shelter
and a future in a new land.
The statue in the harbor hangs her head.
“We the People” have become
“the enemy within.”
The future trembles in our hands.
Donna Katzin has worked for more than three decades with South Africa in its struggle to defeat apartheid and advance the new nation's democratic development. She also continues to partner with vulnerable Nicaraguan communities and mothers struggling to feed their children. She is the author of With These Hands, a book of poetry and photos of South Africans struggling to give birth to a new nation, and a published poet honored to have been included in New Verse News.
