A Literary Magazine in Support of the Jewish Community
Chaos — 2022
The world is on fire.
I.
There's a madman who,
though ousted from the White House
in 2020,
still believes he is our Great Leader,
and he still leads an army of traitorous
Yes men who
do his bidding—
As if the January 6 Insurrection
weren’t enough,
the Yes men snake through
the Halls of Congress,
derailing the duly elected President’s
Build Back Better agenda
with filibusters,
made-up rules,
or a simple
NO
uttered through tight-smiling
clenched jaws
and arms folded against
the chest.
II.
People are dying of
Covid—now, a Greek alphabet of
of commingling variants
(Delta + Omicron).
Wildfires.
Murder.
Old age.
Loneliness.
Suicide.
Rage.
Yet the sun still rises.
Children still play.
Flowers bloom.
Gardens thrive.
Warriors fight for Right.
For Truth and Justice.
For Equality.
For missing children.
To feed the hungry.
To care for the sick.
To bury the dead.
To save the animals.
To save the planet.
Some of us are tired.
Some of us are anxious.
Some of us are flat broke.
Some of us are broken.
Some of us cry.
Some of us scream.
Some of us go silent.
Some of us are numb.
Some of us have nightmares,
Robbing us of dreams.
But some of us are energized.
Some of us are calm.
Some of us share wealth.
Some of us heal.
We are all on a journey.
A train, some say.
And we meet each other
For a season.
Jackie Oldham
Jackie Oldham (she/her) is a writer from Baltimore, Maryland. Her personal blog, baltimoreblackwoman.com, features essays, memoirs, and poems about life and family in her hometown, and is now in its 8th year. Since 2018, her focus has shifted to poetry. She has appeared on the Quintessential Listening: Poetry podcast (2019-2021) and the Black Poets Matter series (Mad Mouth Poetry on Facebook, 2020). Her poetry has recently appeared in Oddball Magazine, Global Poemic, Rigorous Mag, Spillwords Press, and A Lovely Place, A Fighting Place, A Charmer: The Baltimore Anthology.
