Every morning, a choice.

“… the clarion reach from the New World mist …”

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[born]

in the morning of the year we decide

who is equal and who is not,

the clarion reach from the New World mist,

slave songs on the brilliance of early sun

on ice-crystal roofs in days that for a few days

have grown longer and will for a while,

gods willing, the lights of the season,

the calling of sibylline birds, the missiles

screaming over holy skies, blood in Iraq,

war amputations concussed and mothers torn,

stolen children, lies and compromise,

the resident squinting at a waving pin

on the warm southern coast of America

in the new morning of the year

we choose between sanctuary and asylum

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Frederick Ramey is the author of the novel Comes a Time, published by Fomite Press in 2020. He is also a longtime editor of literary fiction and memoir, the co-publisher of Unbridled Books, and the founding director of Leaping Man, a not-for-profit producer of performances, arguments, and artifacts in Colorado. You can find him at leapingman.org.

 

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Featured image by Tom Cordner.