Waking in Trump’s America

Feb 1, 2017 | 2017 Winter - Bi+ Spaces, Articles, Poetry

By Jan Steckel

The Statue of Liberty’s arm is tired.
She may have torn her rotator cuff.
She still has dual citizenship,
wonders if her passport is in order.

She imagines lowering her arm,
dousing the torch in the harbor,
boiling the sea and seething Ellis Island.

Friends, look at the person next to you.
Put your arm around their shoulder.
Help them keep that torch in the air.
Tell them you would never turn them in.
We’re the resistance now.

This poem appeared first at www.poetsreadingthenews.com. Jan Steckel’s poetry book The Horizontal Poet (Zeitgeist Press, 2011) won a 2012 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Nonfiction. Find out more at jansteckel.com.

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