Second Coming No. 109 — May 8, 2025
A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House
Susan Dambroff
Tend to the Shattering
I search for simplicity
hang Japanese postcards—
full moon
through lacey grass
white sand
perfectly combed
Listen
to dharma talks
remember vastness
learn from the trees
I listen to Angela Davis
struggle as joy
words from Mariame Kaba—
hope as practice
I walk around my room
recentering the paintings
My love
keeps herself busy—
sweeping the leaves in front of our door
emptying the lint tray from the dryer
She strums her guitar
through sad lullabies—
Don’t this road look rough and rocky
Sings timeless lyrics
of John Lennon—
The sun will never disappear
But the world may not have many years
Isolation
We try to stay kind
I tend to children
play music with toddlers
trail colored scarves across our faces
as we hide and find each other
with a boo
My love tends to the neighborhood
picks up nails from the street
offers water to the workers
knows all the dog’s names
I collect quotes
Thich Nhat Hanh—
A cloud never dies
Du Fu—
The nation is shattered,
mountains and rivers remain
I stare at a watercolor
of soft purple light
on snow
Susan Dambroff is the author of A Chair Keeps the Floor Down (Finishing Line Press, 2021), Conversations with Trees (Finishing Line Press, 2018), and Memory in Bone (Black Oyster Press, 1984). Her poems have appeared in Rattle, What Rough Beast, Stoneboat, Birdland Journal, Kelp, and other journals, as well as in several anthologies. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Indolent Books and editor Michael Broder are back with another poem-a-day series as a creative response to the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House. The plan is to continue for all 1460 days of the 47th American presidency.
Find out how to submit poems or flash prose pieces to Second Coming.
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