Poetry

AFP photo

By

Debbie Hall

Harden the Border

against thousands of children

fleeing violence

slam shut loopholes

crackdown

small children

Guatemala El Salvador

Honduras the parents

send them

dangerous treks

away from poverty

gangs or rape

hope they melt

into America

hard-liners

tough enforcement

scuttle hope

children

processed and returned

lives threatened

heartless lawmakers

draconian proposals

even racist

The White House

will demand

aggressive efforts

build the Wall

stop the surge

turn back

the children

fleeing

or the Dreamers

can’t stay

(A found poem made of lines from a New York Times article on 10/8/17: “For Deal on ‘Dreamers,’ White House Will Demand Crackdown on Child Border Crossers”)

Debbie Hall

Debbie Hall is a psychologist and writer whose poetry has appeared in the San Diego Poetry Annual, A Year in Ink, Serving House Journal, Sixfold, Tuck Magazine, Bird’s Thumb and other journals. She has work upcoming in AROHO and the Main Street Rag. Her essays have appeared on NPR (This I Believe series), in USD Magazine, and the San Diego Union Tribune. She recently received an honorable mention in the Steve Kowit Poetry Prize and completed her MFA at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. She is the author of What Light I Have (2017, Main Street Rag).