Colloquy For The States -after Archibald MacLeish (1939)
By Nina Barufaldi
There’s talk, says Illinois
There’s always talk, says Alaska
There’s talk on the east wind, says Illinois
Talk about what? says South Dakota, says Kansas, says Arkansas
Something’s rising in the clouds, says Michigan
The corn’s pointing east, says Ohio
Too noisy, New York says, can’t tell
East, yes, says Connecticut, I’m sure
It’s Down East alright, says Massachusetts
It’s here, says Maine
Bells, no, sirens
What? says Texas
Here Here? says Virginia
No, here. Wish it wasn’t, says Maine
But sure as the tides
Sure as logs in the Penobscot
Speak up, says Oregon
What is it? says Kentucky
Can’t tell, says Maine
Sea’s churned up
Leaves are rustling
Wait, there it is Sirens Tears in the Androscoggin
Those, says Mississippi
Maybe it ain’t, says Texas
Heard’em two decades ago, says Colorado
Fibs, says Maine
Can’t believe it
Think you’re any different? says Alabama
It’s sad talk, says Maine, bad talk
Not worth repeatin’
Wish it was the Rhine again, I do
I don’t
Digame, says California.
Maybe they’ll listen now, says Louisiana
Say it proper, says Connecticut
Out with it, says New Hampshire, I’ll pick your potatoes, I’ll fish your traps
Gather we’re stove up, says Maine
Shots near the Twins
18 gone, maybe more
Tears in the Androscoggin, and it’s runnin’ high
So, says Alabama.
That Siéntate, says Florida
Can’t, says Maine. Need to stand
Gotta pace it out. Figure it out
Can’t be done, says Illinois
Just because it hasn’t been done,
don’t mean it can’t be done, says Maine
Don’t get it, says North Dakota, says Wyoming
Starting to, says Vermont
Maybe, if we do it, says Maine
We’ve got to hunt, says New Hampshire
So hunt, says Maine
We’ve got to defend ourselves, says Texas
Told you, says Illinois
We’ve got rights, says West Virginia
To live, says small voices from above, from highchairs, from playgrounds
This is the land of the free, says Idaho
With freedom comes responsibility, says New York, says New Jersey, says Arizona
Here, here, says Virginia, says Pennsylvania
Have we earned it? says Nebraska
We could wait, says Kansas
Been waitin’, says Connecticut, says California, says Colorado, says Washington, says Kentucky, says Florida
They’re dying at the blackboards, eating dinner, hitting spares and strikes, says Maine
Listening to music, says Nevada, what are the odds
Under their desks, says Texas
Our own blood in the mountains,
On the shores, In the valleys and fields,
Jesus, sea to shining sea, says Wyoming
It’s time, says Maine
We’ll do it first
Just follow the winds
Coming from the north
The sun from the east
For the tears in the Androscoggin, says Rhode Island
For the tears in the Platte, the Connecticut, and the Mississippi, too
Can’t wait any longer, says Maine
Don’t wait, says Utah
Together, says Oregon
Sure as logs in the Penobscot, says Maine
Sure as the tides.
This poem originally appeared in Stonecoast Review Issue 21.
Photo by Natalie Chaney