source

Deep is my need for the green
of the magnolia trees and the health
of Fairmont Park* and woods as
the resident president
wipes his ego’s hands over
history and beauty.
He wants to rebuild
the world in his image
and in the lies of
his terrorizing words.
 
I go deeper into the woods.
Wanting preservation and
resistance in my heart,
I eat and drink loss. 
 
Others are here to renew
their hope that we have power,
but so far, only Rachel Maddow*
brings good news.  She points out
that none of the prisons
built to store immigrants
have succeeded in opening. 
Keep protesting, she says. 
It’s making a difference.
 
But deep is my need for
an untouched part of the world
where no cruelty and terror enters.
 

*A local Philadelphia wild area.

*A reporter and host on MS Now, a writer and blogger

For Mary's prompt "Sadness" at What's Going On? 

 

My blog poems are rough drafts.

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© 2026 Susan L. Chast