Elizabeth Romero: A Day in Thread City

(In 1982, in Willimantic, CT, the thread mill closed

            throwing thousands out of work.)

Late August and through the open windows,

warm Spanish syllables round and sweet

as pomegranates and mangoes tumble staccato

down the wooden stairs.

But when the windows are closed

and snow is heaped like neglected laundry

on streets and parking lots, and the wind comes in

like blue-veined fingers,

no coat is thick enough against its siren cry.

America America, my country, everywhere

windows scream private, they are quilted

against the buildings they are sewn together

with hope as thin as thread.

Copyright 2017 Elizabeth Romero