America on the Brink
Self-Made Man
I hire the police that protect my home from the hordes that would tax me: I need nothing from the State, and so give nothing to the State.
America
24 posts
America on the Brink
On Doing Good in America
“How does one with no boots pull himself up by his bootstraps?” “Why teach someone to fish then deny them access to the lake?”
America on the Brink
Daydreaming on a Saturday Afternoon in May During a Pandemic
I just read that the virus is mutating, anti-vaxxers are joining other unsavory elements to protest public health measures, the president doesn’t see the need for mass testing but is now getting tested daily...
poetry
Be Wary of Sadness in Dark Times
I notice my parents’ aging as I do my own: Not at all, then in a photo, all at once.
America on the Brink
Waiting in Line to Donate Blood After A Mass Shooting
This is where we come together, not before but after: The blood already drained, we refill it; we never lack for blood to give.
America on the Brink
Reichstag
It doesn't matter who lit the flame that burned the Reichstag down, only that it burned and so few considered what cremation means to those who long for proper burial.
America on the Brink
The Machinery of the State
A relentless South Texas wind poses impossible questions, / flaps the smirking flags until they are upturned, / mists the mown grass with evil's sputum...
America on the Brink
The Frantic Invisible Night
They’ve separated 5,500 children. No, they’ve discarded them like cans of Coca-Cola, 5,500 children who reached our shore like sea foam, salty, crying salt...
America on the Brink
A More Perfect Union
When children by gunfire die, when the dreamer and the warden clash, when statues betray the sculptor, we proclaim This is not who we are.
America on the Brink
In Whose Custody the Flags?
The flags are at full-staff Though Jackeline is dead Of dehydration And the Guatemalan boy whose name Has not been released Is dead Of the flu—
Politics
The President Is Not A CEO, and the Nation Not A Business
One of the most pernicious attitudes about the nature of political leadership is that running a city, state, or even the whole nation is akin to being
America on the Brink
In Polite Society
In polite society we hold doors open, Say thanks and please, wear crisp Suits when we drop bombs.