Patricia Jabbeh Wesley: News

News comes in every day

of this

         or that


Liberian immigrant woman or man

or a Ghanaian, a Nigerian

and other Africans


dying of COVID19

              in NYC,

Staten Island,

Chicago,

Philadelphia,


our people who do the hard work

of America,

              dying as caregivers,

        hard working women

and men


who fled war at home, who fled life

at home,

         and now, news comes.

Everyday.

   
These names are our names,

even their bodies

are unclaimed,

       like people without a country,

like the people

without a country

they were.


My heart is breaking, dear God.

Copyright 2022 Patricia Jabbeh Wesley

Patricia Jabbeh Wesley is a survivor of the Liberian Civil War who now lives in Pennsylvania. Her many books include Praise Song for My Children: New and Selected Poems (Autumn House, 2020).