.

.

photo by Russell duPont

.

.

 

Angel Wings Grounded

To where have our better angels flown
Instead of wings, ghoulish shadows darken our skies

So___ past the book stalls and flower carts
And down the Champs-Elysees stretch
naked tables and vacant chairs
And the jazz band that riffs in the back of Notre Dame
has quietly disappeared around a corner
to somewhere

And then I heard, is it true, that as early as yesterday
London pulled up her welcome mat and locked the gates

Cross the Atlantic____ and here in the states,
discords, disavows, and dissents
Tear asunder the lines that stretched far and wide
to voting booths

And above and over all lurks the Corona

But most frightening of all, in Germany are the ghostly echoes
Of the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute
But listen again
Focus this time
Those are not echoes
So it must be, it can’t be again
Goose steps and marching boots
beneath waving swastikas

We, the promises of wandering refugees and the New Deal,
Of the Emancipation Proclamation and the War on Poverty
And of the richest nation on earth

Our desperations grow by leaps and bounds

We clutch the rocky edges of steep cliffs
And though we are hanging on tightly and praying
We are falling into the dark valley of 2020

.

.

___

.

.

.

Susandale’s poems and fiction are on WestWard Quarterly, Mad Swirl, Penman Review, The Voices Project, and Jerry Jazz Musician. In 2007, she won the grand prize for poetry from Oneswan. The Spaces Among Spaces from languageandculture.org has been on the Internet. Bending the Spaces of Time from Barometric Pressure is on the Internet now.

You can reach her by email at [email protected]

.

.

Russell Dupont is an artist and an author whose artwork is included in a number of public and private collections. He has published two novels, King & Train and Waiting for the Turk; two books of poetry; and two non-fiction chapbooks. His essay, “The Corner,” is included in the anthology Streets of Echoes. His work has been published in various newspapers and literary magazines. He was the founder & publisher of the literary magazine,.the albatross.

Visit his website by clicking here

.

 

.

.
Listen to Miles Davis play “Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus)” from his 1959 album Porgy and Bess

.

.

.