Nancy Mercado
Make America Great Again
They come masked in body armor -
fascists
They kidnap crop workers, school children doodling in school yards -
nazis
They hunt brown mothers on food bank lines -
prowlers
They’ll come for my family, for me soon enough -
vanished
I must heed the signs, make a run for it, dash out while I still can -
goodbye
Women of the Regime 2
The women serving the vile
slither to work in baseball caps wearing gaudy knockoff watches
crashing into wall after wall
discombobulation at its most perturbed
they shoot puppies in the head for sport
they cage hairdressers in concentration camps for sport
they get endless botox injections to paralyze the truths ringing in their ear
The women serving the cruel
hold photoshoots with the condemned
they crave living in a deceased world
reminders of their colorless birthplace
they showboat crosses of fool’s gold between their breast
they hopelessly simulate life on earth their morbid origins inescapable
The women in the service of maggots
look elegant until they don’t
sporting putrid faces that display their skeletal remains
their disjointed bones clash when they move about
in search of their next victim-fix
they are the willing maids of maniacs
they are one spectacle hell has to offer
they are malignant beasts that now roam this world
Miller’s ICE
You invade my home night and day
landing in your military fatigues
showing off your armored chest
waving batons and smoke bombs
your gas-masked-face protruding into my dreams
deforming them into living miseries
You will be lost among the damned leaving no remnant of your existence behind
Perpetrating legalized crimes
seizing children from housing projects
shoving women into unmarked vans
speeding them away to captivity in far off lands
with every life torn apart you destroy your soul
another fracture with each violent act
another tear with each cry of anguish
piloting planes flying fathers away
You will be lost among the damned leaving no remnant of your existence behind
We will meet you in Hades
encircle you with countless souls
combat your cruelty with whispers of our ancients
We will dissolve you in plain sight
we will drive you into an unforgiving twilight
you will never return
You will be lost among the damned leaving no remnant of your existence behind
Nancy Mercado a distinguished figure in contemporary literature, has garnered notable acclaim, including a nomination for the prestigious Pushcart Prize and the esteemed American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement, awarded by the Before Columbus Foundation. Her impact has been further recognized by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, which named her among the 200 living individuals embodying the spirit and work of Frederick Douglass (The Frederick Douglass 200) in celebration of his bicentennial.