Mercedes Lawry

For Lack of a Refuge

The memory was singed.
The after-effects were predictable
aside from ennui.
The lessons learned meant nothing.
Breakfast must still be served.
The dogs were hungry and oblivious.
Restructuring was not welcomed.
Erasure had become too trendy
and less than any whole.

Prickles of upset, of bother,
wounds re-opened in a snap.
The long ago and the up-to-the-moment
colliding, the damages
yet to be assessed.
Every cliché mentioning time rang out
like a medley of ancient bells.
Still, crowds poured into the streets
on their way to the somewhere that kept them
prisoner, well-fed, inspired, afraid.

Mercedes Lawry’s most recent book is Small Measures from ELJ Editions. She’s also published Vestiges from Kelsay Books, three chapbooks and poems in journals such as Nimrod and Alaska Quarterly Review. Additionally, she’s published short fiction and stories and poems for children.