Maria Regas is a current undergraduate student at Ursuline College, where she participated in Professor Katharine Trostel’s EN 288 class (“From Rustbelt to Revival: Exploring the Legacy of Segregation, Inequality, and Social Justice through the Lens of the Anisfield-Wolf Canon”) during the Spring 2021 semester. Her erasure poem, “American Vile,” was inspired by Tracy K. Smith’s poem, “Declaration,” from her book Wade in the Water.

Ms. Regas has also provided an audio recording of her reading her poem.

American Vile

By Maria Regas

They…hold…all men are created equal.

To secure these rights…the right to alter or to abolish…, to institute a new government.

Dictate. Suffer. Evil. Abuse.

Governors…utterly neglect… people at large.

Foreigners…to…justice.

He…sent…swarms of officers to harass…us…in times of peace…and…excited…insurrections amongst us.

We…petition…to…have…justice…for…our…good people…to be…free and…divine.