(for America)

I have sworn off Cheetos
and caviar.
I pledge to exist on the oatmeal
between the buckle
of the Bible Belt
and the soft gray fat
of the land.

The Fear
has become exhausting
and The Euphoria
far too fleeting.

Never again
will I ask if you love me.
If I can’t discern the answer,
I don’t want to know.

Tony Burnett served as the Board Chairman of the Writer’s League of Texas from 2013 – 2017. He is the managing editor of Kallisto Gaia Press and an award winning poet and songwriter whose work appeared in over 50 national literary journals.