They Took the Mask Off
by George Potter
They took the mask off and
children burned,
and I ran outside
and vomited in the yard
and my dad picked the TV up
ripped it from the wall
and hurled it through a window
and said
in a dead cold voice:
"America has ended."
(He used to say "the American people"
and you could hear the pride.
Now he says "the American people"
and all you can hear is disgust.)
You were wrong, Mr. Elliot.
The world does not end
with a bang or a whimper.
Some worlds end
with the unheard screams
of children burning alive
inside a church.
