Look at Us
Annette Frost
Look at us running like rabbits holding our skirts up
the dust all around us America gave us our papers
a number to claim us she promised us work promised a safe
haven the sheer width of the country a harbor the rivers
and thicket and cities and mountains she fashioned
the rules out of black ink and sawdust she birthed
us she took us she owned us and held us she gave us
a number and said she would claim us she
gave us our papers and promised our parents
to keep us and love us and build us a future and look
the clouds darken and look the wind hastens to churn
up the dust and obscure the horizon the black of the sky
has us running in circles our papers
in tatters our papers won’t save us
the dust all around us America gave us our papers
a number to claim us she promised us work promised a safe
haven the sheer width of the country a harbor the rivers
and thicket and cities and mountains she fashioned
the rules out of black ink and sawdust she birthed
us she took us she owned us and held us she gave us
a number and said she would claim us she
gave us our papers and promised our parents
to keep us and love us and build us a future and look
the clouds darken and look the wind hastens to churn
up the dust and obscure the horizon the black of the sky
has us running in circles our papers
in tatters our papers won’t save us
Annette Frost is a poet and educator. She is the director of the Favorite Poem Project and the public humanities manager at Boston University where she received her MFA in poetry. Frost’s poems can be found in such journals as Consequence Forum, 236 Magazine, and Epiphany. She lives with her family in Acton, MA.
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