Sangfroid

We drove across land that is not ours
nor ever
cultivated & subdivided
empty strip malls financed by indifference
blood splashing against the wheel wells
at 80 miles per hour
tires red with the gore of innocents
brought & bought & left behind–
fend for yourself
This is what ‘independence” means
or maybe “in the tenements”
or perhaps “in the tents”
bought & paid for on the field of nowhere
the stark plains of abandonment
dark, overgown, festering
Water pools black by the river
an ocean of regret that ebbs & flows
oozes out of tar pits & over curbs
of an America lost abirthing again