Don’t Open the Door 

Don’t Open the Door 

When the knock came at the door for
A second
I thought about a man: Davino Watson
A US citizen
Locked up for forty-one months by ICE
Over 3 years
Of his life lost. For what? A clerical error
Or clerical terror
And then about Bello, the Bakersfield poet
Targeted by ICE
and locked up for reading his critical verse

So, when the unexpected knock came
at the door
At first I froze
Just me at home and my two-year-old
And now we all know,
And it’s no exaggeration,
That ICE tortures children,
And rapes them,
and kills them.

The knocker, however,
Was only the super
As it turned out,
This time.

 

Elliot Sperber is a writer, attorney, and adjunct professor. He lives in New York City and can be reached at elliot.sperber@gmail.com and on twitter @elliot_sperber