Old People Talking

  PRAISE THE BROKEN PROMISE OF AMERICA Alison Luterman Praise deep mineral veins under rich dirt, and fossilized remains of dinosaurs turning themselves into gas for our benefit. Praise the exhausted earth, miles and miles of subsidized corn and cattle lowing from their hell-holes in automated milking barns. Praise farmworkers rising before dawn, their sore backs and aching knees. Praise the myths that drew them here, stories eagerly consumed when there is nothing to eat but faith. Praise the courage of the reverend to look the dragon in the eye and preach mercy; praise whatever hidden waterways are still pristine. Praise music that refused to play at the funeral of democracy. and the killing cold that swept through Washington when the fake Pope took power. Praise drag queens and lipstick lesbians, boys who are girls and girls who are lions, butch women wearing tool belts, and all the music theater nerds who are even now building new passageways mapping the next underground railroa...