A Brief History of January 6

Juan Manuel Pérez

February 19, 2021

one early morning

dark clouds of insurrection 

heavy with foul speech

American-made

wide spectrum of emotions

rearing implosion 

chaos by noon time

devil back to his dwelling

minions to his bid

a graceful nation

once upon a turn was us

lies broken like glass

the capitol falls

overwhelmed by ignorance

enemy within

hang them high they shout

yet none of them to be found

squandered ill choices

late restoration 

democracy doth prevailed

harvesting new hope

Juan Manuel Pérez, a Mexican-American poet of indigenous descent and the 2019-2020 Poet Laureate for Corpus Christi, Texas, is the author of several books of poetry including two new books, SPACE IN PIECES (2020) and SCREW THE WALL! AND OTHER BROWN PEOPLE POEMS (2020).