Autumnal Detention Center

A Poem by Gwendolyn Morgan

A Selection from Flight Feathers by Gwendolyn Morgan | Bookstore»

Included in Wayfarer Magazine Issue 42

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“ice finds itself bedeviled
by activists, attorneys
and politicians in the Pacific Northwest
who are determined to gum up
the machines of immigrant enforcement.”  

She remembers that a grateful heart 
illuminates the space around it. 

Underneath feathered clouds
she waits outside 
the Immigration Detention Center.

With mothers from around the world
she leans against the cement wall
cries for her children.

Above rare “blue” (Snow Geese) 
mostly dark bodies and wings
issue high-pitched laments.

Gwendolyn Morgan (she/her) is a Pacific Northwest poet and artist who has served in interfaith spiritual care in medical centers for nearly two decades. She learned the names of birds and inherited horsehair paint brushes and wooden paint boxes from her grandmothers. She is a recipient of a few residencies including a Centrum Artist Residency. The Clark County Poet Laureate 2018-2020 in Washington State, her third book of poetry, Before the Sun Rises (Wayfarer Books) is a Nautilus Silver Winner in Poetry. As a multiracial family in a multi-species watershed, they are committed to equity work and inclusion for all.