(a reflection on “Cook County Jail Election Guide Rejection Harms Voters and The Free Press”)
A thousand calls for justice
a thousand chances to give a thousand voices
Rejected–mistakenly
Freedom of speech,
freedom to read
a thousand times denied
Apologies flow like run off stormwater
Flooding our sewers
Violations mounting
an infinite barrage blocking justice
each new transgression surprises,
a shocking hiccup—
like the fifth hiccup in a series of hiccups
The pregnant pause between them
hinting at hope
making each successive glitch
worse than the one before,
Who’s to blame when
honorable men forget to
honor the people?
Jaime Grookett is a MFA Candidate at Drexel University and teaches college composition. She is a Fiction Editor at Paper Dragon, Drexel University’s graduate-run literary magazine. Her poetry has been published in The Sock Drawer Journal and Grand Little Things. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and a historical fiction novel.
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Silent Injustice
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Editor’s note: This poem is part of our #SpreadTheWord poem of the week series, featuring work by Chicago artists based on Injustice Watch reporting, and inspired by the commentary, ‘Cook County Jail Election Guide Rejection Harms Voters and The Free Press’. For more poetry in this series, click here.
(a reflection on “Cook County Jail Election Guide Rejection Harms Voters and The Free Press”)
A thousand calls for justice
a thousand chances to give a thousand voices
Rejected–mistakenly
Freedom of speech,
freedom to read
a thousand times denied
Apologies flow like run off stormwater
Flooding our sewers
Violations mounting
an infinite barrage blocking justice
each new transgression surprises,
a shocking hiccup—
like the fifth hiccup in a series of hiccups
The pregnant pause between them
hinting at hope
making each successive glitch
worse than the one before,
Who’s to blame when
honorable men forget to
honor the people?
Jaime Grookett is a MFA Candidate at Drexel University and teaches college composition. She is a Fiction Editor at Paper Dragon, Drexel University’s graduate-run literary magazine. Her poetry has been published in The Sock Drawer Journal and Grand Little Things. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and a historical fiction novel.