WEBVTT

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So occasionally I sort of
link these poems together.

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We're in a weird
space in the country.

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We were in Mississippi
from August of 2019,

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and then COVID
hit in March 2020,

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and we were there
for two months,

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and then we went back home.

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And so we didn't get a chance to
do as much as we wanted to do.

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But I've been back since and
I have a boyfriend there now,

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so I was able to go
back down on this trip.

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I happened to go down a few days
after the Capitol Hill riot.

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Driving through Mississippi
after the Capitol Hill riot,

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January 9, 2021.

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And when that country dog
blocked the car, snarling, put

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his body in front
of the front tire,

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it stopped us from passing on
an otherwise quiet afternoon.

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The winter grass, a pale
yellow, new brick houses

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threading through,
a two-lane road

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on our way to someplace else.

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That dog may be a feist or red
heeler, coat of dark armor,

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rust dog, all bark,
all bite, unchained,

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perhaps for the first time
today, would not be moved.

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America, haven't we
been here before?

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Standing our ground
in failing light,

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our breaths held, not knowing
what will happen next.

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The texture of this moment
turning so hard, so fast.

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That dog flushed with adrenaline
and a loud echoing bark,

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teeth clenched towards
whatever comes down the road.