THE SANDWICH MAKER

by Pamela Kenley-Meschino

“It’s rare to see a government so eager to prove its critics right in real time. But here we are, watching the Trump administration fire a Justice Department employee, slap him with a felony, and publicly humiliate him—for the crime of calling them “fascists.” That the accusation came seconds before he allegedly threw a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent is almost beside the point. The symbolism is too perfect: in today’s Washington, labeling the regime “fascist” is more scandalous than acting like one...” Nick Anderson, Pen Strokes, August 14, 2025

It probably wasn’t vegan.
Hopefully, it had some heft.
Not like a baton or a stick
or the base of a flagpole,
the smell of onion sneaking
through waxed paper,
maybe a dollop of mayo leaking
out in flight made contact with a thud
of audacity, outrage. Why are you here?!
Why the f—k are you here?!
The sandwich maker who cut the bread,
arranged condiments, while the man (felon?)
waited by the counter, had no idea.
Maybe he felt the weight of anger,
spread yellow mustard thick,
added extra pepper,
a wedge of heavy cheddar,
imagined his throwing arm gathering
a day’s worth of ham and cheese
he could sail over the heads of invaders
to reach those starving children
on the other side of insanity.

Pamela Kenley-Meschino is originally from the UK, where she developed a love of nature, poetry, and music, thanks in part to the influence of her Irish mother. She is an educator whose classes explore the connection between writing and healing and the importance of shared stories.

FRONT LINES

by Eileen Ivey Sirota

The governor of Alabama on Friday signed into law two controversial bills: one that criminalizes healthcare providers who offer gender-affirming care to transgender youth and another that requires students to use bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificates. Kay Ivey, a Republican, said she “believed very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl”. The anti-gender-affirming care bill, described as the first legislation of its kind in the US, makes it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison to provide medical care including hormone treatment and puberty blockers to minors. It also includes bans on gender-affirming surgeries for transgender youth, which are extremely rare, and compels school personnel to disclose to a parent or guardian that a “minor’s perception of his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with the minor’s sex”. —The Guardian, April 8, 2022

We will fight them on the

beaches    we will fight them in

 

the sandbox    these tiny

terrorists, the little boys

 

with nail polish, a spangly pony

and a special Barbie.

 

We have God on our side

He who surely must have sanctified

 

the hand of the doctor filling out

the birth certificate.  We have

 

George Orwell on our side to

inspire our marketing team.

 

We’ll call it de-nazification, no,

we’ll call it parental support, no,

 

wait, we’ll call it The Vulnerable Child

Compassion and Protection Act.

 

No more shelter in the demilitarized

school nurse’s office.  We’ll make It a crime

 

to slow the inexorable hands of time

bringing forth an unwanted body.

 

In this holy war

No prisoners are too small.

 

Eileen Ivey Sirota is a psychotherapist and a poet.  Her chapbook Out of Order was published by Finishing Line Press in 2020.  Her poems have been published in District Lines, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Lighten Up, The New Verse News, Ekphrastic Review, The Poeming Pigeon, Calyx, and Voices:  The Art and Science of Psychotherapy. She lives in Bethesda, MD with her husband and an ever-shifting blend of rage and wonder.