Larry Scahill Poem

On Thin Ice

 

I didn’t go to work today.

Stayed home to hunker down. 

Rumors flying every which way

ICE is sweeping through our town.

 

We keep a clean home, no frills

I’m supervisor at the chicken plant.

Just enough to pay the bills.

Miss a few days of work, maybe I can’t.

 

I’ve been 20 years in the States.

I’ll soon make 42 if I can.

Made no trouble, kept a clean slate

But no papers to show the man

 

My wife works in a hotel on north main

New job, but she’s not going in today  

ICE is like a reckless train

Manuel, Maria will get taken away

 

Our kids, 8 and 10, are in school today

Born here, they do have the birth right

If my wife and I get taken away

Where will my kids sleep tonight.

 

ICE is like a reckless train

Rumbling from sea to shining sea

The raids have a single refrain

Deport me and people like me.

 

ã L.D. Scahill

February, 2025