Our List

By Eric Lochridge

We are making a list of people who could hurt us.
Their names often are not easy to spell.

Could Al Sharkey, auto mechanic in Michigan,
be one of the al-Sharki clan of Yemen?

With no easy way to know, our list
will claim he is not one we can trust.

House to house, Arshad to Na’im to Zufar,
our list will compile the odd names,

dotting its I’s and crossing its T’s
uniformed men in the driveway,

pistol escorts prodding neighbors to trains
bound for a safe space—towers and spotlights,

mass showers and razor wire fence.
Our list will keep track of them like before,

tattoos down their wrists,
hoods to keep them calm as falcons.

Disinterested in true identities—blessed,
brave, honest—our list will ask questions

about alternate spellings and correct pronunciation.
If the answers do not satisfy, if the interrogations fail

to muster remorse, penitence, respect,
our list will feel obliged to enhance its techniques.

To hear the names it wants to hear, our list
will hurt those who have not hurt us.

Eric Lochridge is the author of Born-Again Death Wish (Finishing Line Press, 2015), Real Boy Blues (Finishing Line Press, 2013) and Father’s Curse (FootHills Publishing, 2007); and the editor of After Long Busyness: Interviews with Eight Heartland Poets (Smashwords, 2012). His poems have recently appeared in WA 129 and Hawaii Pacific Review. He lives in Bellingham, Washington.

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Photo credit: Stephanie Young Merzel via a Creative Commons license.