A Drop of Water

By James Schwartz

Land of lapping lakes,
Peninsula
&
Pine.
Alexis de Tocqueville,
Frontiersmen
&
Forefathers.

Detroit flood
&
Detroit debt
Our kingdom for a drop of water.

James Schwartz is a gay ex-Amish poet and slam performer. His poetry has been published by various poetry journals including Poetry 24, Babel, The New Verse News, Nostrovia! Poetry, piecejournal, Silver Birch Press blog and Eris Magazine. His book, The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America, was published by inGroup Press in 2011 and his poetry is anthologized in Among the Leaves: Queer Male Poets on the Midwestern Experience (2012), Milk and Honey Siren (2013), The Squire: Page-A-Day Poetry Anthology 2015, Writing Knights Press 2014 Anthology, QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology (2015), and various chap books, including Alpine Suite (2013), Poetry 4 Food 2 (2013), Poetry 4 Food 3 (2014), Arrival and Departure (2014), Secular, Satirical & Sacred Meditations (2016), Michigan Meditations (2016). He resides in Michigan. Visit his site at Literaryparty.blogspot.com and follow him on Twitter @queeraspoetry.

Image: Flint Water Drive, courtesy of the author who is second from the left.

Reading recommendation: The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America by James Schwartz.

“A Drop of Water” was previously published in Secular, Satirical & Sacred Meditations.