permafrost is permanent
tiki torches are for barbeques
walls are for buildings
facts are not debatable
as is science
no one reads poetry
conspiracy theories are fringe
how else did we discover quarks?
positive thinking yields positive results
yes we can
big banks fail
student loans are good debt
there’s no free lunch
on facebook i’ll find friends
i have a right to my female body
to take a pill is a choice
a glass broken won’t always shatter
white supremacy is fringe
only they’d say racist shit around me
militias are revolutionary
the eye of a hurricane is rare
duck and cover is memorable
the Cold War ended
diseases packed in ice
can’t survive for centuries
there’s a line that’s been crossed
good people i know can’t be deported
the phrase good people has meaning
fascism is European
CNN is moderate news
my daughter may know a female president
140 characters is not a speech
a swamp is a marsh
our president has read poetry
did he just say that?
there’s a line
you can’t say that
the levees are fixed
a home can be rebuilt
ghosts can’t walk among us
alighting from pedestals in parks
that summer was the hottest
this summer was the hottest
there’s water on Mars
cities can’t drown
only volcanoes create islands
islands can’t drown
a man is not an island
is not a trigger
is not a storm
there’s a line
there’s a cross
no one needs poetry anymore
an object at rest stays at rest
Sara Burnett‘s poems have appeared in Barrow Street, Poet Lore, The Cortland Review, PALABRA, and her chapbook Mother Tongue (Dancing Girl Press) is forthcoming in 2018. She holds a MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland and is a recipient of Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference scholarships to support her writing. She lives in Silver Spring, MD with her husband and daughter.
