partisanship poems

A door when it closes makes a noise –
slammed, of course, it’s loud enough
to rattle windows, if shut more slowly
more subtly it’s an almost silent click.

If it’s a literal door and you see it close
from the outside, you would be tempted
to knock or ring the bell, but the more
figurative kind are harder to deal with.

When these doors close, through opinion,
through executive order, or a vote along
party lines, the closing is harder on those
on the outside, you would be tempted too,

tempted to talk, but out here you are alone
even in a crowd you are alone, closed doors
do that, they fill up space in your thinking,
a blank wall, a blank face, an answering silence.