4 Wanted and Not Wanted

Roe vs Wade was overturned today

I walked into the break room and found
my coffee pot gone.

Elsewhere a teenager girl finds she’ll have to carry
her father’s baby to term.

We’re back to one hundred years ago.

I walked next door to the coffee shop,
sneaking out of work unseen
to not get caught but
their coffee was weak and I needed caffeine.

She went to a neighboring state
borrowed money for gas, drove all day
and found out she was too far along
but at least she won’t be imprisoned for murder
when she returns home.

A year ago this time,
mass graves were found
of indigenous children killed a hundred years ago
at old residential schools
They were stolen from their parents.
They were wanted and they were not wanted.

Three years ago in Perris California
13 children were found
imprisoned by their parents
in basement cells and
tortured in their house of horrors.
Allowed to eat once a day,
shower once a year
kept chained to their beds.
The foster family where they were sent
after their escape
was arrested and charged with abuse.
They were wanted and they were not wanted.

Children are sleeping in case worker’s offices
because there is nowhere for them to go.
Children are living in the streets,
neglected, hungry and prey.
They are wanted and they are not wanted.

Roe vs Wade was overturned today.

The coffee pot was gone from my break room.

And a girl realizes her only hope to not bare her father’s child
has been taken away

4 thoughts on “4 Wanted and Not Wanted

  1. A haunting poem, Susan! Your repeated line “they were wanted and not wanted” is heart-breaking, and grows ever more emotionally powerful as the poem goes along.

    Also love the juxtaposition of the coffee pot being gone from the “break room,” and how this emphasizes the poem’s losses. Thank you!

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