RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS
El Paso
The crisis in El Paso unfolds
Like a slow-motion catastrophe
A tsunami rolling over a coastal village
A hurricane in the ninth ward of New Orleans
A line of twisters rocking through tornado alley
A derailed freight train screeching with twisted metal
We see it coming
We observe it building to the moment of impact
We watch it unveiled in heart wrenching detail
but we are powerless to stop it
The freezing cold is moving down from the arctic
Barreling down like a Russian missile barrage
Honing in on the border of Texas and Mexico
Centering on the city of El Paso where hundreds
if not thousands of Nicaraguan asylum seekers
wait in huddled masses yearning to be free
Soon they will want only warmth and
shelter from the storm
We watch and wait from the other side
of our television screens
Pleading with people we do not know to
somehow come to their aid
Is there someone who can help?
Is there someone who can ease their suffering?
Or must we watch as we watched Katrina?
Must we watch as we watched Fukushima?
Must we watch as we watch so many
tragedies unfolding in slow motion from
the other side of the television screen?
El Paso find your heart
El Paso find your empathy
Only you answer the call
Only you can ease the pain
