"Untitled" by Howard Sage

Untitled

poem

Debbie

climbs

the statue,

mounts

the

steps,

peers at

the green

lady

looming

large

above her,

stops

for

a

smoke;

Debbie,

from

Athens,

Ohio,

light

and

black,

claiming

ancestry

with

Jeff Davis

of

the

sour

apple

tree

waits

in

line

half

way

up the green

gal;

Debbie

who still says

"check him out,"

seeing

the

crowd

and

a      

half-

hour

wait

to

get

to

the

crowded

torch

misquotes

correctly

the

Green

lady:

`"Give

me your

criminals,

your

whores

your

thugs;""

and

Debbie

tired, gives

up

the

climb

halfway.