Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Amit MajmudarFebruary 21, 2020

             You’ve been
walking backwards
             for so long

it doesn’t feel
             so awkward
anymore.

             In fact, it has
become the norm
             to claim your side

just scored. The goal
             has always been
to pass along

             the road from
Washington
             to nowhere,

this can that’s
             taken on
the contour

             of an intricately
dinted, infinitely
             polyhedral

soccer ball.
             You’re hoping
there’s some road

             to go yet
so that when it’s
             your turn

you won’t turn
             to find a wall,
given that all

             the experts
you have heard
             have warned

that the can,
             once opened,
is sure to air

             a generation’s
worth of
             worms

and that whoever
            opens it
will be the one

            who has to blink
into the light
            and squirm.

More: Poetry / Poems
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Frank Turnbull, S.J., a longtime editor at 'America' who died earlier this week, is remembered as a humble, quiet and yet forceful presence to those who knew him during his 85 years of life.
James T. KeaneJuly 18, 2025
A Reflection for Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time, by Zac Davis
Zac DavisJuly 18, 2025
Trauma-informed spirituality knows better than to promise that prayer will take away all the pain. But it can offer the hope that, even in the midst of pain, there can be moments of feeling whole.
Nicole KirpalaniJuly 18, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned Pope Leo XIV, who urged Israel’s leader to revive negotiations and enact a ceasefire.