A sun-drenched image of the Reflecting Pool and the National Monument in Washington, DC

The Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC

November 18, 2020

You know how it is, the way we do laps,
we all defect
to the deep end we pushed off from; would
it surprise you

if our grandparents had been told
to do the same
back when we may have had even more
ferment and rain

than buffets us now? As it happens, the swamp
we were to drain
depends upon a pool that’s lost its
ability

to reflect; was it this way
before you and I swam ashore?

 ‌ ‌

________

‌ ‌
Recent work by Bruce Robinson appears or is forthcoming in Seventh Quarry, Pangyrus, Résonance, The Menteur, Main Street Rag, Connecticut River Review, Maintenant, Evening Street Review, and Shot Glass.


Photo‌ ‌by‌ ‌‌ADTeasdale/Flickr.‌ ‌

________

How America Turned On Itself
[The Nation]

Previous Story

Torch the Empty Fields

Next Story

A RipRap Along the Rivers

Latest from Politics

A photographshowing three figures ascending a wooden scaffold.

The Guillotine

A report from the scaffold, as Trump moves to purge the Justice Department of those he perceives as disloyal.

To Witness Injustice

"I circle the 20th of January on my calendar, the date when northern constellations will be sent south..."

Dry Eyes

Everything has changed since then, and nothing has.
Go toTop

More Like This

Next Among the Countless Gales

"These sessions sound like hope—hope I’ll need while other wings approach."

Rest of the World: A Haiku

A haiku for a country that pretends there are no bounds.