for Larry Dugan

our Nation woke up this morning
brushed their teeth
some pondered black pants
others red skirt or white
some chose a mix of cools warms
others dressed in monochrome blues,
just feeling like rain on a sunny day,
most downed breakfast
kissed Mom Dad, happy valentine’s
pranked or got pranked by
a Brother Sister Friend
to whom almost all would send
frantic texts: love you or forgive me
later in the day when they thought
they wouldn’t make it

from the hunker under school desks
from the crouch in closets for fear
of the wildest storm ever
flooding the backstairs with words
they knew but not from lessons
thundering bullets—claps of lightning
striking 17 Classmates Teachers
who could not find shelter
or stood exposed to bad weather
so others could . . .
and because of their sacrifice,
our Children—

our Nation,
reunited with Family Country
under clearer night skies,
pray now that swift peace comes
to all of us steeped in the lasting
carnage of these storms,
and caring beyond good intentions
promise “Never Again” as they tuck in
but still shake for wonder
at what change of heart
the powers to reverse this climate
will need and when and until then
what change of weather
any tomorrow might bring

You can hear Olga Dugan read on Monday, April 9th with Amy Barone at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Please click here for further details.

Olga Dugan is a Cave Canem poet. Her award-winning poems appear or are forthcoming in Virga, The Sunlight Press, Origins, The Peacock Journal, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Kweli, The Southern Quarterly, The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, Cave Canem Anthology: XIII, Pirene’s Fountain, Tipton Poetry Journal, and Scribble. Holding a Ph.D. in Literary History and Culture from the University of Rochester, Olga is a Lindback Professor of English at Community College of Philadelphia.