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.
