ruckus

By VAUGHN M. WATSON

Image of household objects

The United States

a rotor spins in concentric circles
the epicenter a DC street at dusk
even a military helicopter’s incessant droning
can’t wake this country to its circumstance

locals peer through the gaps in their blinds
trying to see what all the ruckus is about
deluding themselves at the same time from the precedent
this country has set for it:

corpses of color rotting
in a Brooklyn truck

centuries of American exceptionalism
culminating in myths
of immunity to an unknown pathogen

deregulated decades of corporations as people but
race as specter

years of Trump.

months into this crisis and
library gates remain closed
flags at half-mast
pockets empty 
storefronts shutter but stocks
soar like skyscrapers unpaused
by overeager governors
while Congress looks past her constituents
towards the prophesized price of oil

the ruckus comes from above, not below
it’s not in shattered displays or plywood signs splintered by rubber bullets,
it’s not in the screams or milk pooling beneath countless feet
it circles overhead
buzzing for a country’s imminent demise
and i hope this country hears it

Vaughn M. Watson is a New York-based writer. His work is published in Tahoma Literary Review and About Place, among several other literary journals and his short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He is currently working on Payaos, a cross-genre collection, while serving as the managing editor of Newtown Literary.

Photo by author.

From the beginning, The Common has brought you transportive writing and exciting new voices. We are committed to supporting writers and maintaining free, unrestricted access to our website, but we can’t do it without you. Become an integral part of our global community of readers and writers by donating today. No amount is too small. Thank you!

ruckus

Related Posts

Image of a tomato seedling

Talks with the Besieged: Documentary Poetry from Occupied Ukraine  

ALEX AVERBUCH
Russians are already in Starobilsk / what nonsense / Dmytrovka and Zhukivka – who is there? / half a hundred bears went past in the / direction of Oleksiivka / write more clearly / what’s the situation in Novoaidar? / the bridge by café Natalie got blown up / according to unconfirmed reports

A Tour of America

MORIEL ROTHMAN-ZECHER
This afternoon I am well, thank you. / Walking down Main Street in Danville, KY. / The heavy wind so sensuous. / Last night I fell- / ated four different men back in / Philadelphia season lush and slippery / with time and leaves. / Keep your eyes to yourself, yid. / As a kid, I pledged only to engage / in onanism on special holidays.

cover for "True Mistakes" by Lena Moses-Schmitt

Giving the Poem a Body: Megan Pinto interviews Lena Moses-Schmitt

LENA MOSES-SCHMITT
I think sometimes movement can be used to show how thought is made manifest outside the body. And also just more generally: when you leave the house, when you are walking, your thoughts change because your environment changes, and your body is changing. Moving is a way of your consciousness interacting with the world.