Liberty Turns Her Back
A ghazal by Shawn Aveningo Sanders
Step on a crack; you’ll break your mother’s back.
Cross the border at midnight; they call you wetback.
Pick the apples, the nuts, the oranges from trees,
up down up down up down—such a strong back!
Share stories by the fire in your native tongue,
how it stirs such hatred, such ire—Go back
to your shithole country! they chant, they scream.
Your children can no longer dream; we take back
our promises. After all, it’s what Americans do best,
like taking from the Natives, and never giving back.
This behavior trickles straight down from the top,
learned from our leaders as they hoard their greenbacks.
Now, show us your papers or we’ll send you back.
No empty seats for Jesus. Not even in the back.
Shawn Aveningo Sanders started out as show-me girl from Missouri and after a bit of globetrotting finally landed in Portland, Oregon. She is a widely published poet whose work has appeared in more than 130 literary journals and anthologies. She’s a Pushcart nominee (2015), Best of the Net nominee (2017), co-founder of The Poetry Box, and managing editor for The Poeming Pigeon. A proud mother of three, Shawn shares the creative life with her husband in the suburbs of Portland.
Photo credit: William Marnoch via a Creative Commons license.