Preexisting Condition

It doesn’t make sense anymore,
this house we’ve been building
for 241 years now. The foundation
is sinking and the termites chewed through
the black and white walls of the 1950s,
the peace & love revolution of the 60s,
the foggy memory of the 70s,
the desks that schoolchildren
cowered under in the 80s,
the full bombs and fat jail cells of the 90s,
the dusty rubble of the twins of New York in September and September
and September
and September
and always September.
It will always be September here,
every time the crows cry
“Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
Send those people home, Jesus!”
And we may look back at the ashes
of the house we set on fire
all by ourselves
and find that another white supremacist
complaining that their right to incite violence is being threatened
is a rusty nail that always seems
to survive the fire
and this insures there is no insurance
that will ever cover
this country’s preexisting condition
except maybe Langston Hughes old friend
Revolution.

By Eric Allen Yankee

Biography:

Eric Allen Yankee is a member of the Revolutionary Poets Brigade of Chicago. His work appears in The People’s Tribune, Calamus Journal, Five 2 One Magazine, RISE (2017 Vagabond Books), Overthrowing Capitalism Volume 2 & 3, The Good Men Project, and others. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He is the author of RIOT (2017 Finishing Line Press), American Bullet (2017 Atomic Theory), and Bees Against the War (2017 Locofo Chapbooks).