WHAT
IS IT DIES TODAY
All laws blown off like leaves
cold hate slides
down the streets
misrule usurps
routine
gross insults turd
up speech
no fact seems safe
to state
bland lies smear
every screen
mean crowds chant
gangster words
while children drown in reach
wild anger poisons
friends
restraint’s gone
back to bed
the sky turns dark
then red
the demon claws
his prey
his minions get
their way
what is it dies today
Version first published in Rat's Ass Review, Winter 2020; reprinted in Hill Rag, July 2021