"How Will We Take Care of Each Other" and "Upon Seeing Juneteenth Ice Cream in the Freezer at Walmart" by Shaun R. Pankoski

How Will We Take Care of Each Other?
(with a nod to Gwendolyn Brooks)

We take care. We
fight fair. We
share dreams. We
mend seams. We
hold dear. We
don't fear. We
dig in. We
all win.

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Upon Seeing Juneteenth Ice Cream in the Freezer at Walmart

Here in 'Murica,
everything's commodified.
Luaus, pow-wows, Juneteenth, Pride.
Artisanals, iPhones, Yuletide.
Virginity auctions, organ trade,
carbon credits – one can't evade
that if there's some way you can profit,
you just slap a barcode on it.

---

5/22/2025

Shaun R. Pankoski (she/her) is a poet most recently from Volcano, Hawaii. A retired county worker and two time breast cancer survivor, she has lived on both coasts as well as the Midwest as an artist’s model, modern dancer, massage therapist and honorably discharged Air Force veteran. A 2024 Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems have appeared in Anacapa Review, Jackdaw Review, Thimble, and MockingHeart Review, among others. She was selected as a finalist by Lefty Blondie Press for her chapbook manuscript, Tipping the Maids in Chocolate: Observations of Japan, and as a first runner up in their 2025 Editor's Choice Broadsides Series for her poem, Lupine.