Page 66 - The Bridge Vol 17_pgs

The Bridge

Gladiatorium

Antoine Trombino-Aponte

Prisoners of long-lost wars once waged
in allied defense of our rights and freedoms
hastening again to charge against the hate
held amidst arena arches and portcullises
as we invoke the illusion of agency
in trading blow after blow before the crowd
which has cheered us into frenzied formations
of young against old, rich against poor,
color combating color, gender goading gender,
and the faithful fighting the faithless,
with the only common ground between us
being the slurried sand left to absorb
the cocktail of our collective bloodshed
spilt in hideous in-hesitance to entertain
the tearless eyes of the very tyrants
who have loosed lions and tigers upon us
so they may ensure our blades and tridents
will remain aimed at the throats of those
enslaved alongside us in the pits
rather than raised with martyrous resolve
toward the lofts of leisure looming above
where wagers are placed on our wins and losses
to be decided at the whim of a downcast thumb—

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