Dear Ashli,
To some you’re a patriot. To others, a domestic terrorist.
I wonder how you got into this position where people have
to make this decision. There’s this tragic incident where you
strategically planned your move. You curled your body down
to fit in the Capitol’s broken window. You almost made it
through–– I froze the frame to catch a glimpse of you falling
to your death. And I am sorry that you had to die for a lie after
serving your country, fighting a war against terror. I didn’t want
this letter to be another lie so I had to find facts. In an interview
your brother said, “Ashli was invincible.” But not impenetrable
to lies. You wrote on social media, “Nothing will stop us” but
lead did. I don’t understand how we served the same country
and end up with radically different ideas about democracy.
Now you will never know if America will be great again.
Mark J. Weaver, poet and prose writer, is a native of Baltimore and a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas where he is currently earning a Master of Arts in Literature. His poetry has appeared in Oberon, The New Guard Literary Review, Change is the Only Constant (an anthology of poems), and Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, the Special Issue: Visions and Words for Children of the African Diaspora.
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