Lines for Tom Joad's Ghost
Jack Bedell
You tell me. How am I supposed
to show my sons and daughter
how dangerous it is to stare
into the flames? They look up
from their Roblox and Minecraft games
just in time to see a man
stomped out on the TV, a child
maced by a cop while standing
on the sidewalk, SUVs
driving into desperate crowds,
or set on fire in the middle
of intersections we’ve crossed
together. The flames dance.
They spread warmth, embrace
communities, turn whole
city blocks into campsites.
So tell me, please. How do I keep my kids
from reaching out their hands?
Jack Bedell is Professor of English and Coordinator of Creative Writing at Southeastern Louisiana University where he also edits Louisiana Literature and directs the Louisiana Literature Press. Jack’s work has appeared in Southern Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Pidgeonholes, The Shore, Cotton Xenomorph, Okay Donkey, EcoTheo, The Hopper, Terrain, Kissing Dynamite, and other journals. His latest collection is No Brother, This Storm (Mercer University Press, 2018). He served as Louisiana Poet Laureate 2017-2019.