Jeremy Nathan Marks’ most recent poem to appear here was “I am looking for a girl” (July 2017). 

Boom!
By Jeremy Nathan Marks

We can’t keep our cities
just like we can’t keep our services

We can’t keep our bridges
just like we can’t keep our pensions

We can’t keep our unions
just like we can’t keep our gun/birth control

We can’t keep our internet
just like we can’t keep out dark money

What can we keep?

When I look to ancient, lasting cities
like Damascus, Baghdad, Jerusalem and Kabul
what do I see?

Our bombs, our soldiers and our trustees.

So, what can we keep?

A deepening need to build something
anything
set to go boom!

And take a few innocent bystanders
and all of the air out of the room.