Peter M. Gordon

READY TO GO

Packed a bag December, 2016.
Week’s worth underwear, tee shirts,
jeans, cotton and wool socks, sweaters,

extra pair glasses, three months of pills.
Canteen, protein bars, five hundred cash,
American dollars, good most places.

I fight for causes, register voters,
give money to non-profits, write
Congressmen and editors–

Digital footprint makes me a target.

I will not stand like sheep for slaughter,
like ancestors who hoped Nuremburg
Laws would blow over in a year or so.

Transferred assets offshore for easy access:
gold is heavy, slows you while fleeing.
Pray my side wins, work toward victory—

but know, deep in my bones, how many
believed neighbors never would herd them
into gas chambers, or deliver to killing fields.

Almost unpacked December, 2020.

After January 6, rearranged stuff to make
room for matches, compass, strong rope,
water purifier, Swiss Army knife, diamonds.

The Talmud tells of towns taken after siege,
women raped, men and children tortured,
and provides rules to guide people through.

Rule Number One—don’t get caught.
Awful to abandon home, books, dog.
Still keep my bag hidden by front door.

Always be ready to go.


Peter's YouTube video reading of "Ready to Go":



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Peter confesses: "Robert Heinlein quoted what he called a Chinese proverb – “In life, a wise man must be prepared to abandon his baggage many times.” The importance of being ready to go has been proved throughout history. I would not be here today if my ancestors had not left oppressive regimes to come to America."

PETER M. GORDON won the 2019 Thomas Burnett Swann Poetry Prize. He's had over 100 poems published by journals and web sites, along with collections Two Car Garage and Let's Play Two: Poems About Baseball. He teaches in Full Sail University's Film Production MFA program.