Fearmongering

by Lin Brummels

"Using your voice is a political choice."

Amanda Gorman, Ted Talk, 2022

A full flower moon beams

on me as I pace the worn

bedroom carpet, walking

off the day’s anxiety.

An angry person called

the counseling line to share

an opinion of my mental

health business, listed as one

that supports LGBTQ rights.

Image credit: Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Making lunch and plans

to plant flowers, the phone

rang. I said hello, thinking

the caller was a potential

client and tried to learn

how I might help them.

The response came back

as accusations of our group’s

evil doing and threats

to smear us via public media.

The caller’s goal was to elicit

reaction not have conversation.

They were a robot on repeat,

hurling angry hateful words.

My deer-in-the-headlights

brain flipped back to my previous

supervisor chastising me

for something I didn’t do

or he thought I did wrong.

In truth, verbal confrontations

are not my strong suite,

stated, we support people.

Despite hecklers, we will persist,

help vulnerable individuals.

***

Lin Brummels

Lin Marshall Brummels earned a BA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a MS from Syracuse University. She’s published poems in journals, magazines, and anthologies. Her poetry chapbooks are “Cottonwood Strong” and “Hard Times,” a 2016 Nebraska Book Award winner. Her full-length collection, “A Quilted Landscape,” was published in 2021.