Second Coming No. 136 — June 4, 2025
A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House and his regime
Robbie Gamble
Habeas Corpus
You should have the body. She was asleep
in bed when the airstrike rockets—One! Two!—
slammed into the house. Now her remains
are flattened, charred, bundled in a shroud
awaiting burial along with six shrouded siblings.
You should have the body. He was heading home
from work, when agents nabbed and shackled him,
shoved him on a plane to the homeland he once fled
for his life. Now he swelters in a cage with scores
more detainees, and officials shrug with glee.
You should have the body. He had just bought
cigarettes at the corner store, when he was
apprehended and kneed to the curb for nine
long minutes. Now his final throes linger in replay
on the digital stage for our wonder and disgust.
You should have the body. A body of outrage
that flares for these moments. It might dwindle,
frail for lack of oxygen. Now, we inhabit this body,
and we are called to breathe voice into it, hold it
holy, so more bodies might righteously survive.
Robbie Gamble is the author of the chapbook A Can of Pinto Beans (Lily Poetry Review Press, 2022). His poems have appeared in One Art, Post Road, Whale Road Review, Salamander, and The Sun and other journals. He divides his time between Boston and an apple orchard in Vermont.
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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