Sunday, April 23, 2023 “What We Have” by Angelica Whitehorne
We have a cock in that ring
We have a cop in those streets
We have a lie in that headline
We have a stone in that shoe
We have a hand in that scandal
We have a net in that sea
We have a cap in that smile
We have a brick in that prison
We have a bet on that horse
We have a tape of that trespass
We have a crack on that screen
We have a pulse in that heart
We have a wave in that water
We have a love in that letter
We have a hawk in that sky
We have an egg in that nest
We have a bud in that field
We have a word in that poem
We have a stake in that moon
We have a hand in that hand
We have a bulb in that lamp
We have a star in that dark
We have a seed in that grass
a seed in that grass.
We have a sapling of hope,
a dying hope, a kindled hope,
a violent hope, a perennial hope
a wheezing, withering,
blighting, surviving, stupid,
lovely, languishing hope
in that world, this world.
About the Poet
Angelica Whitehorne is a Buffalo area native currently residing in Durham, North Carolina. She is author of the chapbook “The World Is Ending, Say Something That Will Last” (Bottle Cap Press, 2022), a collection of ecologically-themed poems released in conjunction with the celebration of Earth Day last year. This poem, which originally appeared in Whiskey Tit Journal, also appears in the chapbook.
Whitehorne, who graduated from State University of New York College at Brockport and worked as a Just Buffalo Literary Center Program Assistant throughout much of 2022, has published or forthcoming work in the journals Westwind Poetry, Air/Light Magazine, Meetinghouse Magazine, and Poetry South, among others. Currently, she is a marketing content writer for a clean energy loan company.
You can find more of her work on Instagram at a.w.ords, and on her website: angelicawhitehorne.com.