Aimee Pozorski
National Emergency
At the grocery store,
I hear
two women talking.
One has a Polish accent,
the other, a flag of Mexico pinned to her lapel.
They’re bonding over Boar’s Head cheese.
I see no emergency.
A southeast Asian man asks fondly after his WASP-ish co-worker
who says that she is tired.
“Long Valentine’s night?,” he asks, tentatively.
Was she on a date?
It is the day the president declares a national emergency for his xenophobic wall.
I see no emergency.
Except maybe someone has run out of milk or cheese or bread or is looking for love in the grocery store.
The Atlantic says Americans smile more—
not because we are naive or stupid but
because we are a nation of immigrants
speaking many languages.
The smile is universal—says we are
ok
here.
I see no emergency.
I see people smiling across the aisles.
I see people working to connect.
A lady with purple hair holds the door for me,
assists me with my cart.
I smile at her a flash of optimism
while finding my way out.
Aimee Pozorski is Professor of English and Director of English Graduate Studies at Central CT State University. She has written three academic monographs on the topic of literature and trauma. Her poems have appeared in Bending Genres, Paper Nautilus, and The Helix. She is the incoming co-editor of Philip Roth Studies is a peer-reviewed semiannual journal published by Purdue University Press in cooperation with the Philip Roth Society.
SUBMIT to What Rough Beast via our SUBMITTABLE site.