There once was a time

A small quiet time

Where words hushed themselves

Minds flew unoccupied

Down roads common and familiar

Paths traveled over like wrote memory

So many times, that their souls slept

‘Til a moment of shock wakes them

A limb in the road

A live wire on the street

And everything is awake again

Awake and aware of time lost

While asleep and traveling

To seek a rebalance of that time

To tip the scales back over

To live the balance

Of the weight of those years

Full of wakefulness

Jeni Alden St. Laurent

Nashua

•••

Late night phone calls

With family elders

A new pandemic way of being

Through margaritas

Morning hangover slowness

Laughter and disagreements

Concern for the palpable and constant

Division

It’s everywhere I turn

The list feels endless

Covid-19

Mask wearing

Quarantine

Travel

Vaccines

Black Lives Matter

All Lives Matter

I can’t breathe

Defund Police

January 6

Election results

California recall

Critical Race Theory

Disagreement and Disdain

Our uncle​’s wisdom

Has rung in my ears

For days now

“We are in a Cold Civil War”

And what do I know

About a Cold War? Or a Civil War?

I faintly remember Reagan and the USSR

Only it’s here

With my neighbors

With my family

With my friends

On my social media

And how do we tear down the multiple walls

Stand beside all of our imperfections

Understand this dangerously reckless cycle

Of misinformation and hate

That costs us lives across our nation

“We are in a Cold Civil War”

Fabiola Bagula

San Diego