Volition (July 4, 2022)

by t.m. thomson

Art by Cynthia Yatchman

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I tire of fireworks—

their loud lies

all sparkle & sizzle

& boom chasing mother

squirrels from their nests

stunting the growth

of snow geese

emptying coneflowers

of bees

I tire of colors

masking the emptiness

of promises

concealing the struggles

of 12 year olds to give birth

to monsters’ children

covering the day-to-day

hunger of those you will never

meet or support

while your own offspring

have everything

I tire of the debris

you leave behind—

gunpowder & sulfur

rockets that poison

robins & carp

of all the bodies

you leave behind

that you try to dress up

as fat smiling harmless

babies

I tire of the red glare

used in repeated attempts

to blind us to the sky

that shelters us all

to the joy of bodies

fluctuating & undulating

swaying & spinning

soaring & humming—

a susurration of selves

each moving under the power

of her own volition.

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Cynthia Yatchman, Farm On A Hill, painting

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