Housing separated children at Walmart

“A poet’s work is to name the unnameable,
to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments,
shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.”
– Salman Rushdie

rename the building
Casa Padre

turn off the cameras
empty the shelves
patch the stucco
electrify the wire mesh

turn on the heater embedded
in the cement floor

count them
1400

bleach and de-lice them
wrap their toys in cellophane
tear up their newspapers
hand out foil blankets

pump in menthol mist

step towards the plexiglass
place your palms flat

watch them shit 1400 times
watch their feet burn
when they try to find each other

fill your glass
raise a toast to the homeland

shred the paperwork