Survivors
We were severed limbs of a tree
Pick-up sticks to pyromaniacs
Roasting our skin like marshmallows.
We were phantom arms and legs
Of an amputee creeping
Out of the smoking heap.
We were fevered by visions
Of roots like fingers
Implanted in the earth’s belly.
Two by two, we boarded the boat
Noah’s grateful beasts
To salvage what was left.
America! America! America!
We chanted the magic word of passage.
Our daughter sat quiet as baggage.
— Sonia Pilcer
