after “Parents’ Pantoum” by Carolyn Kizer

The headlines are thick with sins
of a nation that trusts in God and
threatens that there is only this one
goodness. My goodness.

What nation that trusts in God and
goodness can abide such civilized terror?
My goodness. Goodness gunned down
in the open streets, the impunity of daylight.

Can goodness abide such civilized horror
when the headlines are thick, soil still wet with sins
in the open streets and the impunity of daylight?
Who can be this one God in whom you trust

when the headlines are sick, the soil is soaked
with the trails of tears, stolen blood, and ancestral sins?
Who can be this one God in whom we trust?
My goodness.