New Poem: A COLD DAY IN AUSTIN

it’s a gray day in downtown Austin
all the people standing too close together
letting Alex Jones who lied about Sandy Hook
do their thinking for them
allowing themselves to risk their lives
as free extras in an InfoWars infomercial
>
I don’t remember reading about
people on the home front in World War 2
protesting en masse
about ration cards and blackouts
and being told not to talk about troop movements
they held fast for almost four years
>
today, we howl like banshees
get the keys to the beach too soon
lust to be free to do harm unto others
after just six weeks

New Poem: IT IS WHAT IT ISN’T

president gets hold of tea party bazooka
tweets the word liberate in all caps
encourages insurgent behavior
wants his fans to get out of their houses
cut off pieces of the golden calf
demand a stunted version of normal
>
death is more than numbers on spreadsheet
much more than a model bent to White House will
it’s family friends neighbors coworkers
doctors nurses online shipping clerks
meat packers ministers actors writers
supermarket checkers and many more
>
make tests available
find out who has it who does not
don’t make Americans play Russian Roulette
give life a chance

New Poem: SHACKLETON’S BOAT

sea is rough
water pours in
rations are low
hard to sleep
>
don’t lose sextant
won’t lose hope
land will appear
we will survive

New Poem: RESOLUTE

Sitting behind the Resolute Desk
Then rising to meet Kings, Queens and Dictators
It may be trying times
I might have to keep social distance
But I will wear no mask
No mask whatsoever
I refuse to look weak
As I require others to be tested,
Waiting for fifteen minutes
Until they, unlike most of America,
Find out they’re virus-free
And safe to be ushered in
To bask in the presence of Resolute Me

New Poem: MARCH

March came in like a lion cub
Ended like a bullet train
Plunging off a washed away bridge
Into a crevice far far below
>
Some people hear the crash
Smell the rising clouds of smoke
Other people shop at supermarkets
Wearing homemade jackets
With a painting of the too-familiar President
Underneath, there’s a statement:
HATERS GONNA HATE
>
Some persist in embracing a fool’s worthless words
And remain at one with his every change of mind
Turning heads away from unnecessary deaths
Preventable by foresight and advance preparation
Thinking that coronavirus isn’t nearly as bad
As being a member of the Democratic Party

Found Coronavirus Poem

Assembled from various articles/social media posts:

shoot from the hip
keep the government narrative
hold down infection numbers
order a day of prayer
maybe it goes away
like a miracle
where science won’t be necessary
>
afternoon briefing
Oval Office at night
too little in the beginning
now, save the stock market
instead of everyday people
improvisational leader talks of
tests that aren’t there
maybe that will shut them up, he thinks
>
people may/may not be infected
someone claims this exists
because impeachment failed
>
it’s like the end of the world
you can’t find anything
people take far more than they need
no sanitizer, no toilet paper,
even stripping Trader Joes
like piranhas devouring prey
>
accentuate the positive
try not to read too much negative
stay home, don’t dare go out
family and friends become talking pictures
on computer and tablet screens

ESQUIRE’s Charles P. Pierce on our inadequate response to coronavirus

Spend four decades building the case that the federal government is a hindrance to personal freedom and economic prosperity and, sooner or later, people will think anybody can run it and will elect themselves an entertaining moron to do so. Spend four decades building the case that the federal government can’t do anything right and, sooner or later, it will forget how. 

Government, like a hammer, is a tool, as the late Molly Ivins used to say. Like any other tool, there is a right way and a wrong way to use it, and that depends on the competence of the person using it. You can use it to build a house or you can use it to break your thumb. Alas, now, in the middle of a global pandemic, we seem to be governed by people compelled to hit themselves over the head with it, time after time, until blissful unconsciousness reasserts itself and they don’t have to think about the rest of us for a while.

Charles P. Pierce—excerpt from ESQUIRE column.

Bill Clinton in 1996 Equals Joe Biden in 2020.

This is what fearful, non ambitious centrist triangulation once gave us—and, after last night, gives again. Turning the floor over to Bill Clinton’s 1996 State of the Union address, excerpt here:

The era of big government is over. But we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves.Instead, we must go forward as one America, one nation working together to meet the challenges we face together. Self-reliance and teamwork are not opposing virtues; we must have both.

I believe our new, smaller government must work in an old-fashioned American way, together with all of our citizens through state and local governments, in the workplace, in religious, charitable and civic associations.