A Rose By Any Other

[Editor’s note: Amid controversy surrounding the mural, as referred to by some, or signage, as referred to by others, on the outside of Egg Harbor’s Mojo Rosa’s, Redell composed the following poem.]

A Rose By Any Other
A rose by any other
In the cold Northern Door
Can be seen obscene
By those who ignore
The scent of difference

Sometimes it is envy
Amidst a quiet winter
That deliberately creates misconception
But the mind cannot enter
What it does not comprehend

A rose by any other
Is dismissed as inconsequential lore
And is mere graffiti on the tombstones
Of the cold Northern Door
Crushed by the wind of indifference

And then when we return
To the home of our obsessing
Without realizing
That the scent is just confessing
To what we do not care to know

Born and raised in Chicago, John Patrick Redell worked as a construction engineer/surveyor for thirty-some years before retiring to live most of the time in Door County.