In anticipation of Poetry Month, I wanted to make sure I added a new poem every day-

I MUST HIDE

            I cannot stay here

            And watch my world crumble

            As rules flying off pages

            In all directions, strike

            At the soul of our country

            I cannot stay here,

            Where facts are available every day that

            Half the country does not believe,

            I cannot watch, as the road circles downward

To the bottom.

            I must close the door.

            I must try.

            I am not armed with Billions,

            I was not the one given public office,

            A job purchased with the billions

Belonging to those

            Who care not about rules,

            Nor constitutions,

            But only about

            How their stocks rise.

            I must look away.

            I will focus on the porch railing

            Where tiny, happy birds

            Enjoy the seeds I have placed for them.

            I will disappear into the ethers.

            Will wrap myself in music,

            In the sunshine creeping out from

            Behind bare branches.

            I will walk in the woods.

            I will try not to dwell

            On the rotting foods

In ships docked in faraway ports

That desperately hungry people

            All around the world

            Need, but cannot

            Have.

            USAID crumbles, flying

            On Musk-wings, out

            Into the darkness.

            But what happens if we all

            Look away?

            When we return our vision,

            There will be no country left

            To see.

            I cannot stay here

            Where angry conversations

            Separate loved ones at

            Their own dinner tables.

            I cannot stay here       

            And watch history erased from

            School books our children need,

            So they may learn from our

            Past mistakes.

            I cannot stay here.

            I do not speak the language

            Any more.

            There is no language

            Any more.