Common Wealth
by Samantha Ratcliffe
“Lord, help us to see ourselves—and no more.” —- Jim Wayne Miller (1988)
Lady Liberty is alive in Lexington
Her gaze weighed down with the work of seeing
We lock eyes & I try to put on like it’s okay
to feel crazy in a world like this, but I’m a liar It’s a felony
The way she's talking right past me, maybe she’s saying
something about getting to the other side of this Her palm
to Jesus’s cheek Her ear to the heat— She’s all turnt loose
& twisted in the wind My grandpa was a holler astronomer too
so I know her Born to fight the same undersky
that scooped him up & put him down at Eastern State
It’s this dark belly of air that she lifts against in praise
Tonight the sky is a stolen penny & she’s determined
Implausible hands pluck the stars with such intent
as if she’s working against a lost pasture of dandelion
or lightning bugs only she can see I crawl against her
pentecost & think someone else must have dressed her
warmly. She waves me in as if she’s always known my name
A grandma wave that pulls me back home she’s porch light
Lady liberty ladles the sky with mitten oars rushing me
towards her hand-knit USA beanie & her matching shawl
How did she get here on this icy night? Will she survive US?
She’s on her way to the holy stadium to stand
shoulder to your shoulder face to our fake wars
Dry bones of faith as we are she’ll tell you
we’ve already lost we are lost to ourselves in our
towers of babel, sleeping in brand new prisons
Having cut the best parts out till nothing clear remains
Just US steel bar benches & still-less conditions. Just US
forgetting our resting places. All the homes we’ve left
empty in the interest of winning. Most of all, our bodies
wait around to be claimed. When I roll down the window
She asks if I remember our old names
*Originally published in Yearling Magazine
BIO: Samantha Ratcliffe (she/they) is a queer Appalachian poet and songwriter from Eastern Kentucky. Her work centers the progressive south and our battle against the death of the heart. Her work has been featured in dogyardmag, Corporeal Magazine, White Wall Review, Vagabond City Lit, and others found on SamanthaRatcliffe.com