Whose borders these are
I do not know
the walls are in our minds though
where human lives are measured
in tsunamis and surges
faces of asylum seekers
erased by political urges.
For we are a nation dancing
to the tune of concertina wire
spiraling bodies in a midnight flux
of fear
stomping to the squelch and slap
of soggy feet
crossing rivers on blowup mattresses
by midnight
water hyacinth tickling our knees
as we kickboard our lives
across imaginary lines
our hearts tied up in plastic bags
drifting out to sea.
Patrick Morgan is a Louisiana-based writer originally from Watertown, New York. His poems have appeared or are appearing in, among other venues, the Catholic Poetry Room and Footnote: A Literary Journal of History. His writings about poetry can be found in We Are Already One: Thomas Merton's Message of Hope: Reflections to Honor His Centenary (Fons Vitae), The Pocket Instructor: Literature (Princeton University Press), and The Pocket Instructor: Writing (Princeton University Press).