Douglas Polk is a writer of poetry from central Nebraska. Feeling persecuted most of his life, he has published three books of poetry: In My Defense, The Defense Rests, and On Appeal. He lives with his wife and two boys and two dogs on the plains of Nebraska.
Unearthed
By Douglas Polk
By Douglas Polk
construction begun across the street,
a vacant lot now a massive mound of dirt,
the hole dug into the earth’s crust,
my son no longer able to sleep,
instead hears the screams of complaint,
shouted by the voices so recently unearthed,
he as angry as the voices,
explaining this land, not ours to do with what we wish,
the voices have a claim,
they were here first,
I tell my son change is hard,
shaking his head he sadly says,
“Dad, you just don’t understand,
this construction does not only change the skyline,
but changes everything,
the hole more than a void beside a mound of dirt,
a gateway exhumed,
the past, the voices, even the ghosts all now have been unearthed.”
Sometimes children know best.