White Papers [45]

although my father although 
my mother although we rarely
although we whispered 

although the silence although 
the absence although even now 
some TV books not to mention 

radio websites new militias hate
groups raging against our socialist-
communist-fascist although but still: 

our textbooks now our museums
mostly our college literature 
courses even our crayons not 

to mention our young president 
who could scarcely have been
imagined when we when I— 

and although I've gone back 
and filled in some blanks 
I'm still learning this un-

learning untying 
the knot of Yes but re-
writing this    Yes   Yes

Copyright Credit: Martha Collins, "White Papers [45]" from White Papers. Copyright © 2012 by Martha Collins.  Reprinted by permission of University of Pittsburgh Press.
Source: White Papers (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012)