from the center
of the sunrise
orange panopticon
the tender-hearted
speaker tells us not
to let our thoughts
skirt the murky
boundaries of what
can(not) be done
about the acidic
injustice seeping
between the cracks
in the marble but
try to channel the
outcomes falling
within our locus
of control & any
morsel of faith we
happen to catch in
the ever-flickering
light & our tender-
hearted speaker
opts for discretion
steers clear of phrases
like systemic racism
& authoritarian &
immigrant plight
reminds us instead
with steel conviction
how a single act of
kindness can bloom
immeasurably & Lord
I hope she’s right
of the sunrise
orange panopticon
the tender-hearted
speaker tells us not
to let our thoughts
skirt the murky
boundaries of what
can(not) be done
about the acidic
injustice seeping
between the cracks
in the marble but
try to channel the
outcomes falling
within our locus
of control & any
morsel of faith we
happen to catch in
the ever-flickering
light & our tender-
hearted speaker
opts for discretion
steers clear of phrases
like systemic racism
& authoritarian &
immigrant plight
reminds us instead
with steel conviction
how a single act of
kindness can bloom
immeasurably & Lord
I hope she’s right
Andrew Alexander Mobbs is the author of the poetry collection In These Glorious Pastures (Kelsay Books, 2025), and two chapbooks, A Walk in the Garden (Bottlecap Press, 2024) and Strangers and Pilgrims (Six Gallery Press, 2013). A Pushcart Prize nominee, he's grateful his poems appear in Frontier Poetry, Terrain.org, Southwestern American Literature, Two Hawks Quarterly, and other fine publications. Since 2012, he has co-edited Nude Bruce Review.