Sir
A winning poem from Poetry for the Mind's Joy

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Sir
By Ben Staisloff
Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, MD

"Would you give
so that others may
simply live?"

I pause. But,
ashamed of such a
break in time,
my guilty spine
guides a hand
to my breast coat
pocket.

Where my tan-leather
wallet hides
a ten dollar bill.
   Better make it twenty.
   I'd like to sleep tonight.
God knows,
(and I do too)
too well,
the score against
white males.

So, I pause.
   Better make it twenty.
Hell bent
on making Haiti's pain
my own.

Yet, for all the
twisted limbs
that surround me,
all my eyes can see
is de-inked
and re-inked
pulp.

And so,
my duty paid,
my debt released,
the wheels of my feet
click back
on their rusted track.

Faculty Contact:
Susan Cohen, English Department

This poem was submitted for the "Poetry for the Mind's Joy" project and is reproduced here with permission from the author. All rights reserved.