The last few poems I'm going to read
are new pieces from a new manuscript.
And these were written after November 2016.
And so this is "Mathematics of Healing, a Poem to America."
"Yes, the gape of wounds exists.
And how wounds elevate both flesh and mind
transform to causeways, making us stony.
So much to harden from.
Today, the rehab office speaks to you in costs.
Addiction held up against the window for all to see
and what light shows through.
The familiar symbol of capitalism.
Say dollar sign, dollar sign, dollar sign.
And you weigh your partner's health against a price.
A price the weight of your heart in sag.
A price that makes you speak in equations.
Say, price greater than your current mortgage.
Say, if I cannot afford, do I still love?
How some systems wrench us.
And what of systems and manipulation?
Of numbers never adding up?
Say, oh, health care.
Oh.
Say, capitalism for whom?
Say, freedom and what of afford?
A nation overjoyed to make you poverty-bound, environmentally
sick, an addict.
And what of healing?
Our nation offers that too if your pockets run just
deep enough."