Unusual Utah Juneteenth

“Freedom on paper. Now, freedom for real.”

There will be flag raisings, proclamations,

And a commemoration in Salt Lake.

There will be an online townhall event.

There will be a live-streamed concert event.

Virtual festivals. A caravan.

The displaced, the actual, and the strange

Will articulate this particular

Intersection of people, date, and place.

Once a war is finally won, no one

Knows it happened. In the sun, lives go on

For whom the configurations of force

Have altered beyond all recognition.

Has that ever happened? If any war

In the history of war has ended,

History never entered into it.

Overlooking this desert, imagine

Warriors fighting warriors who have no names.

No names, no memories, no slavery,

No freedom on paper. Freedom for real.

A light wind. Gone again. Bluebirds. A wren.