Fuschia Shoes

Fuschia shoes

Over peanut butter and jelly
the news of the day
echoes in the empty kitchen

Lack of humanity reverberates--
children kept in cages
bruised from laying uncovered on gravel
robbed of life through rhetoric and policy
illegal by assigned name,
but not by action.

Tears dot the open sandwiches
a salty addition to my child's lunch.
privilege carries on the sluggish steps of tired feet.

The news ends,
replaced by basketball highlights.
Moving through the morning
preparing for another day as we know it.

Tossing aside the black blazer
I slip into my bright Pom Pom sweater
step into my pale pink pants and
slide into my obnoxious fuschia shoes.
Clothing cognitive dissidence--
the only way I can mute the desperate wails of mothers
the confused cries of children
and the helplessness I'm draped in.