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AI-generated graphic by NightCafé for The New Verse News. |
If a man’s home is his castle,
he reluctantly lowered his drawbridge. “Is she
a Democrat or Republican?” he asked us.
Manicured lawns, foot-high grass.
Porches with fishing rods, feral cats.
“She had three litters before she was fixed.”
A woman on oxygen. A man with a cane.
A woman using a walker
who agreed to put up a yard sign.
“I always vote Republican.”
“I vote straight Democrat.”
“I’m not registered.”
We were offered water, beer;
given thanks, directions, advice,
even hand-wipes. We learned
of dogs who’d been rescued, the price
of a condemned house. One woman’s grandson
is studying classic literature in Italy.
As for the king of his castle, he said,
nay, shouted, “Get off my land!” which,
as far as he was concerned,
wasn’t made for some of you and me.
Mark Williams's poems have appeared in The New Verse News, Poets Reading the News, Writers Resist, as well as The Southern Review, ONE ART: a literary journal, New Ohio Review, and elsewhere. He is the author of the collections, Carrying On and Life. He and his wife, DeeGee, live and canvas in Evansville, Indiana.
