Walker County Council Meeting: March 15th, 2025

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Walker County Council Meeting: March 15th


The farmer's question was, he prefaced 

from the podium, a simple one: Is it true, 


Ms. Steen, that as it stands you received

a zero-dollar deficit from Mr. Swain


when you took the chair? Her answer,

in kind, was plain. He nodded, as if 


watching his bobber tremor, and played 

the line: And do you, Ms. Steen, 


reckon to keep it that way? It was a fine 

if obvious question, simple as the ones


we tax ourselves a fortune 

to avoid: What do you want? 


From where this fear? Who in this 

crowded courthouse condemned you 


to haunt this annex of yourself? 

We leaned forward in the stale click 


of the clock, waiting for our own voices

to answer and wondering just how long, 


just how deep, the ensuing silence

can go on thrashing beneath the surface.


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