A Snowy Night in Reno after Getting an Extra MMR due to Sudden Travel Restrictions in Response to RFK Jr’s Measles Epidemic in Samoa
These are kids who will never pay for spray tan.
They’ll never hold a pen to sign
deportation orders. They’ll never play
neutral to an invader and the people bloodied and collapsed
They’ll never write executive orders. They’ll never go out
with Republicans. Many of them will never use
a woman’s body for their unpermitted pleasure.
These are kids who will never pave over historic
rose gardens. They’ll never hold
the security clearance to know how much of what we live on, we stole.
They’ll never play Risk with real soldiers.
They’ll never write this poem. They’ll never go
to prom. Many of them will never
wear jeans or itchy gowns.
These are kids who will never feel comfortable
in gas masks. They’ll never know the joy of belonging
to a line tapping out a riot shield beat. They’ll never wear
bullet proof vests. They’ll never scale walls
they haven’t imagined. Many of them will never imagine
a world you’ll understand.
These are kids who will never pay for lip fillers, art
-fully broken bones. They’ll never know the pleasure of connection
found in small talk and shared
financial advisors. They’ll never plot
a real coup—or not one they can rally masses to—they’ll never
win. They’ll never go
to Washington. Many of them will never leave
home on weekends.
These are kids who will never give teeth to gears.
They’ll never feel comfortable keeping teeth either.
They’ll never stop probing their teeth with their tongues.
They’ll never fit in.
They’ll never stop rocking.
Many of them will never be found.

Elizabeth Kate Switaj (elizabethkateswitaj.net) is a neurodivergent poet originally from Seattle and currently living on Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Her sequence, The Articulations, was published in 2024 as part of a tête-bêche from Kernpunkt Press; her chapbook, Serial Experiments, was published this year by Alien Buddha Press. Her second full-length collection of poetry, The Bringers of Fruit: An Oratorio (11:11 Press, 2022), won the 2023 Whirling Prize.