Whose Order?

by Leonore Hildebrandt

Lafayette Square––a public park

close to a grand house, which is white.

Tonight its windows are dark

and sirens puncture the night.

Close to a grand house, which is white,

the dogs on patrol do not bark

but sirens puncture the night.

Bunkered, the would-be monarch

wonders why dogs on patrol do not bark.

Steeped in malice, the house emits no light––

bunkered, the would-be monarch

roils and seethes and curses inside.

Steeped in malice, the house emits no light.

The folks in the street are beaten back, torn apart

as he roils and seethes and curses inside.

What good is a bible when by his remarks

the folks in the street are beaten back, torn apart?

He holds up a prop and tramples their rights.

What good is a bible when by his remarks

soldiers rush to harass and incite?

He holds up a prop and tramples their rights.

Lafayette Square––a public park.

When soldiers rush to harass and incite,

the nation’s windows go dark.

* * * * *

"Whose Order" was first published in Dissident Voice (June 14, 2020)

Leonore Hildebrandt is the author of the poetry collections Where You Happen to Be, The Work at Hand, and The Next Unknown. Her poems and translations have appeared in the the Cimarron Review, Harpur Palate, Poetry Daily, RHINO, and the Sugar House Review, among other journals. She was nominated several times for a Pushcart Prize. A native of Germany, Leonore lives “off the grid” in Harrington, Maine, and spends the winter in Silver City, New Mexico. She serves on the editorial board of the Beloit Poetry Journal.