Victoria Ruiz
Home Invasion
“Extreme alert, EXTREME.
Minneapolis is under strict curfew from 8pm to 6 am
Go home and stay safe inside
For safety”
Go home to your still tabled
Dinner plans.
Go home to your ready for bed, dog
Go home to the floor where dust collects
At the feet of each chair and table.
Shake what you can for sleep
Shake what you can for will
For a faith that has divided miniscule
And fraught.
Wait for the man to say when
To explain how
To reassure you that tomorrow
Will go down better,
It’s under control.
It’s all very well under control.
See the guns.
See the streets
See the orders saying
Go home, be safe.
Watch in horror from your home
TV cabled, where you are safe.
That the answers will come.
That to protect our neighbors, we might lose our
Friends.
To protect babies, we must write laws,
Strip wombed bodies from their say.
Watch in horror as the mother of nature
Cries in catastrophic waves and retreats
From the damage she’s been forced to make.
—Submitted on 10/02/2020
Victoria Ruiz holds a BFA in art from Minnesota State University, Mankato, with a studio specialization in painting. She lives in Minneapolis with her partner and their twin sons. This is her first poetry publication.
SUBMIT to What Rough Beast via our SUBMITTABLE site.
If you enjoyed today’s poem and you value What Rough Beast, consider making a donation to Indolent Books, a nonprofit poetry press.