Marjie Giffin

The Splitting

Marjie Giffin

I feel a loneliness settling down upon me as I stretch my legs out on the couch

and pull a book off the coffee table in search of something comforting

to read. I can hear the television, voices heated, raised in argument over

the January 6 insurrection. I cringe. The country is being torn apart by

factions, by lies and temperaments and actions of men who’ve lost their wits

and women who’re steeped in conspiracy. I want to weep when I think of all

that has been lost --- civility, truth, humanity, tolerance. There is rancor

born of such strident voices, elevated in ugly pitches, one against the other.

Some want to protest, others secede. The nation is splitting apart at the seams.

The issues are many, the passions extreme. I curl up on my couch and just try to sleep.

The Station at Kharkiv Marjie Giffin

The train barely visible The tracks going West unseen A throng of people stretching to the reaches of vision Jumbled and bundled together Babies in parkas hoisted high Mamas’ hands clasped tightly Row after row after row Too steep to count Too deep to comprehend Desperation an unheard shout Danger a lurking shadow Fear clearly visible

Marjie Giffin is a Midwestern writer who has authored four regional histories and whose poetry has appeared in Snapdragon, Poetry Quarterly, Flying Island, The Kurt Vonnegut Literary Journal, Saint Katherine Review, Northwest Indiana Literary Journal, Blue Heron Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Agape Review and the anthologies The Lives We Have Live(d) and What Was and What Will Be, Leave them Something, and Reflections on Little Eagle Creek. Her work was recently featured online by the Heartland Society of Women Writers and her first chapbook, Touring, was published in 2021. She lives in Indianapolis and is active in the Indiana Writers’ Center and has taught both college writing and gifted education.