Lips dipped in newsprint

Topics all scraped together

Forming bundles

Of thought

Sometimes it’s hard

To land

On just one

The solace of a win

Can be lost if the path

Does not improve

Prejudice prevails

Despite chisels

And hammers

Despite voices

And pushbacks

And still we go

And still we work

And still we try

The world burns

While we try

Laws rest stagnant

While we try

Progress sits idle

While we try

Then our hand gets caught

Captured

For a beat we stop

Till fingers clasp

And palms collapse together

And the will to fight

Returns triumphant

—

Jeni Alden St. Laurent

Nashua