Poet – Marilyn McEntyre

What happened to you? 

Who hurt you into anger
so deep all you know to do
is hurt and hit, all you see
blurred by a fog of rage?

What stuck sluicegate
dammed the flow of feeling, 
cut off the curious hope
you surely had when you
were five, when you wore
a hat with bunny ears?

What touch will it take 
to open even one portal
for a living stream to find
its way among the rocks
to your thirsty heart?

                                                      MCM

Reflection on writing this poem – This poem came as I listened today to yet another report of ICE agents violently cuffing a young man and shoving him into an unmarked car while his terrified family watched, helpless, and other agents stood by with guns. I found myself wondering about the young men behind those masks and for a few moments able to feel curiosity, like a small current, winding its small way through the outrage. I remembered a theologian writing, “Even Hitler was a child once, running in a meadow.” At least momentarily it made me ache for what can be so damaged.

See “Pavane for a Dead Nurse” posted on February 2, 2026