The Arc  

Kenneth Pobo
May 1, 2023
Freshwater Literary Journal

The so-called “arc of history,” says poet Kenneth Pobo, does not “bend toward justice,” and he tells us why!

 

The Arc

By Kenneth Pobo

That the arc of history bends

toward justice—let that

saying enter the Hall

of Dead Canards.

Justice doesn’t bend

or move forward. It can appear

but disappear as easily, maybe

more quickly. History

is a heap of one injustice

upon another. Chaos

lunches with justice, but sticks

justice with the bill. The arc

of history has radiation poisoning.

No doctor can save it.

Kenneth Pobo (he/him) is the author of twenty-one chapbooks and nine full-length collections.  Recent books include Bend of Quiet (Blue Light Press), Loplop in a Red City (Circling Rivers), and Lilac And Sawdust (Meadowlark Press) and Gold Bracelet in a Cave: Aunt Stokesia (Ethel Press). His work has appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Asheville Literary Review, Nimrod, Mudfish, Hawaii Review, and elsewhere.