on the sidelines

all these distraught
disillusioned faces
flags fly upside down
bedtime stories without happy
endings the prince not
the frog the swan
not the duckling the lion king
never the elephant man
the faceless face down
clang tin cup coins
pavement scorches face flesh
voiceless chords
severed by sycophants
immigrants shackled and chained
dead man walking from
buried evidence
the homebound sit in sad
silence wait for weekly
meals from wheels punctured
by partisan privilege
a father works a double shift
his boy solo on a soccer sideline
a mother walks her daughter to
school not knowing it will be
the last time
a chained lab moans for his
missing master a refugee cries
for safety and a warm blanket
a woman's womb weeps