Presented without commentary.

How Do You Write A Poem When

the first line might trumpet “Guilty as charged!”
but the second reminds you that
three -- Thao, Lane, Kueng -- of the
four have yet to be tried?
And when there are no rhymes
for Daunte, Ma’Khia, Toledo
is free verse a dishonor
to those with liberty and life no longer?
Does it risk being con-
fused as celebration for the bad
crabapples who
with qualified immunity
and no consequences
roam unimpeded among the young
and vulnerable? How
do you determine line

breaks or stanza breaks

in a system so broken
no one believes the math
that counts up 
the individual incidents 
that show the fractured bones
of the haunting skeletal hole?

Where do you end a verse
when police shooting unarmed people
and armed people shooting unarmed people
pedal the news cycle
in a perpetual motion exercise
burning not calories but lives
going nowhere but here
clips loading and unloading
and unloading and loading
in the parodic parade
of end-of-childhood fever nightmares

©David Siller – 2021

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For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021. Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !