My tax dollars support the genocide by Seema Reza
My tax dollars support the genocide
Seema RezaAnd the night heron shifts weight from one leg to another
My tax dollars support genocide
And the flagrant fish lay still near the surface of the canalMy tax dollars support genocide
And my wife lays her warm thigh on mineMy tax dollars support genocide
And my beautiful niece walks slow under the jhaptaMy tax dollars support genocide
And the trees dress in glossy leaves and block the river from viewMy tax dollars support genocide
and the susuk swims sideways in muddy waterMy tax dollars support genocide
And my grandmother declines, open eyed in her hospital bedMy tax dollars support genocide
And the cardinal flashes redthen abandons the shaking branch
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ABOUT SEEMA REZA
Seema Reza is a Bengali American poet. She is the author of A Constellation of Half-Lives (Write Bloody Publishing, 2019) and When the World Breaks Open (Red Hen Press, 2016). Reza lives in Maryland, on Piscataway land. (Source)
Read more poems by Seema Reza • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Follow on Instagram • Facebook • Website • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- This is Day 7 of The Sealey Challenge 2026—a community challenge to read one book of poetry a day for the month of August, named after Nicole Sealey.
- Explore other works in pursuit of: war • nature • guilt • Or browse the index
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