A formation of citizen soldiers advances
To take what we value
Agricultural land holds new worth
Along the scented trail
They’re tracking the imprints
Of fresh Benjamins
Coins passing through dirty hands
That never planted or harvested
What God intended from our earth
We left industrialization
So our children could roam
The solace of greenspace
The state pushes the village
To develop from woods and wetlands
Where Indians once hunted and gathered
Pride discharges from blind ego
Lifting Chicago’s high-rises
In shrewd deals with slick words
We close welcoming doors
Pull gracious curtains
Yet weary of our own righteousness
Taste the bitterness of cultivated black soil
Now covered in concrete
Raised in grey steel
Cold monuments pay homage
To an enterprising billionaire
Continuing a legacy of weapons
Veiled in non-profit
Educational institutional
Cries of foul silenced by bullets
What shall we do against the right to bear arms?
Follow the path of the red man
Noble men they were
Further north and west
Deep into the woods and wetlands
Author Note:
Hunting and Gathering is written about the effects of TAWANI Enterprises, owned and led by Jennifer Pritzker, retired Lieutenant Colonel of the US Army. Pritzker founded the TAWANI Foundation and Pritzker Military Foundation to promote her personal and military philanthropic interests. Her Pritzker Military Museum & Library in Chicago preserves the stories of the citizen soldier. The private wealth firm recently acquired more than 280 acres near Interstate-94 and Highway E in the Village of Somers, Wis. The land is targeted for a limited-use museum and library, archival buildings, an extensive indoor shooting range with gun and ammunition sales, and highly contentious outdoor shooting ranges, which the organization has worked to keep quiet.
Author Bio:
Schultz has been a ghost writer for twenty years. She is the 2020 SE Wisconsin Festival of Books coordinator through the UW-Waukesha Foundation. Schultz is completing a historic nonfiction about murders that occurred decades apart and over a century ago, rocking the community in which she resides. She received a journalism degree from UW-Madison and attends writer’s workshops through the university’s continuing education program. She enjoys being a poetry group member with the Kenosha Writers Guild, serves on the Wisconsin Writers Association board of directors, and manages the organization’s annual Jade Ring Writing Contest. You can find her at https://cschultzwrite.com