Something There is. . - b. armstrong

[Larry Robinson]

Something There is. . .            with a nod to Robert Frost

                       i
from space    it must appear
a curious laceration
or arbitrary line of demarcation

from where we stand   the earth’s
excoriated    an eight-lane thoroughfare
over-riding tribal burial lands

cactus forests newly hacked--
endangered organ pipes reduced to trash
are bound for burning 

observe    up close    the rank intruder 
a man-made structure    a false geography
at odds with mother nature

a monstrous centipede   industrial 
composed of angled steel 
and half the height of the pentagon

upright appendages proliferate 
breaking the daylight into bars
contrived to thwart the so-called aliens 
  
armored gates    at intervals    appear
with fool-proof codes     case-hardened locks
emblems of invincibility and dominion

stony eyes on soaring stalks explode the night as
desert dwellers--    deer     coyote    ocelot
search in vain for their abrupted watering holes

Stand back  my friend  surveilling sensors
shriek and shred the silence
since you dared to lay a hand

dusty pick-up trucks descend 
men in hard hats bearing down
to question our intentions





                             ii


   what glory is there in this artless art to
   warrant the ostentatious autograph
   of a presidential pen

   what is the cost to humankind
   to carry out what is begun
   Can we surmount these barricades

   or will this political theater be 
   reckoned  as a national shame
   a failure of empathy and reason in our time

     Let history declare once and for all --

              Something there is 
                  that doesn’t love
                        a wall
                                                  
                                                           
	-  b. armstrong
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