America’s Weakness
By Zoe Moseler
It’s been around for millennia
like the constant wind blowing
Whether it was the great looming
Columns of Rome
or the quiet rice fields of China
it’s wrought havoc upon empires
Women are not delicate like lilies
that must be protected
They are tempests awaiting
a ship
not a man
One person is not enough
It could take more than an army
marching upon the gates of hell
Not a single Malala
nor a Ruth Bader Ginsburg
could change the tides
With a glass ceiling
as high as
the Empire State Building
it feeling impossible to reach
If a fire were started
Like that of the great Peshtigo Fire
the Syskiyou Fire
or the Chapleau-Mississagi Fire
then maybe the sweet call
of equality could be heard
So many voices all at once
like a pack of wolves
or a unified meditation chant
or the wail of police sirens
Why does our country sit by
Like a Cardinal in prayer
as acts of assault occur
Assaults like Nassar’s
or Weinstein’s
or Trump’s
Land of the intolerant
and home of
the disillusioned