An appeal to the court

Herman Sutter

July 6, 2022

to realize

what every kindergartner must learn:

that saving one thing requires

letting go of something else.

For instance:

there are eight perfect cookies

but also nine imperfect friends.

Something has to give.

Either we let go of the ideal

or we let go of a friend.

Ask Clarence Thomas who

he would vote off

such an island.

Each decision breaks 

another, each obscures

a road sign along the way,

leaving no clear path

back to before.

Open your eyes, my American friend

to the darkness you have lit 

with smoke; lead us home,

if you can.

Listen. Was that the sound of a cookie

crumbling under foot? Or the sound 

of so many ants suddenly

rising up?

Herman Sutter (poet, librarian) is the author of The World Before Grace (Wings Press) and Stations (Wiseblood Books). His work appears in: Saint Anthony Messenger, The Perch, tejascovido, Langdon Review, Touchstone, i.e., as well as: Texas Poetry Calendar (2021) & By the Light of a Neon Moon (Madville Press, 2019).