An Appeal to the Court

Herman Sutter

January 7, 2024

to realize

what every kindergartner must learn:

that saving one thing requires

letting go of another. 

For instance:

eight perfect cookies

and nine imperfect friends;

something has to give.

Ask Clarence Thomas who

he’d vote off that island.

Each decision—you must see—

sends another into 

obscurity. Each removes 

a road sign along the way,

leaving no clear path

by which we might

return. Open your eyes 

my American friend

to the darkness we tried to light 

with smoke, and lead us home

if you can. And as you stumble

over curb or root

listen for the sound of a cookie

crumbling underfoot,

or is that the sound 

of so many ants silently rising up?

Herman Sutter (award-winning poet/essayist) is the author of Stations (Wiseblood Books), The World Before Grace (Wings Press), and “The Sorrowful Mystery of Racism,” St. Anthony Messenger. His work appears in: The Perch (Yale University), The Langdon Review, Benedict XVI Institute, Touchstone, i.e., The Merton Journal, as well as: Texas Poetry Calendar (2021) & By the Light of a Neon Moon (Madville Press, 2019). He received the 2021 Best Essay award from the CMA. His recent manuscript A Theology of Need was long-listed for the Sexton Prize.