did the fun thing
made the love thing
tried to get the hang of the work thing
spent the last year on the lockdown thing
then the smiling mortician appeared
telling me I had a disease
this disease could be held at bay
for a few years perhaps
before the house wins
and my affairs demand ordering
>
how best to make the most of what remains,
I think to myself
as the smiling mortician drives away
Inspired by the Joni Mitchell song:
Today the governors and the mayors sing open up fast
Masks peel off in Texas, indoor restaurant service in NY and CA
No longer fearful of potential spread and variants
Looking the other way from falling stars
>
And the coronavirus still goes round and round
No way to keep it curbed will be found
When White Republicans won’t bare their arms
And we enter a second year with potential for great harm
Manu Raju of CNN: “...McConnell has privately informed associates that he plans to target President Joe Biden's agenda, with a push to unify Republicans on the grounds that it amounts to liberal overreach, another sign that he sees Trump as in the rearview mirror.”
Democrats should no longer be touting bipartisanship if Republicans intend to repeat the obstruction of the Obama years.
she’s There
maybe one day I can be There too
with book deals that drop after the Event
>
she’s ready to write to order
tailoring poems to the Event as advised
>
the modeling deal doesn’t bother me
we should have written word rock stars too
>
every so often a poet who doesn’t get it writes
Amanda Gorman omitting Colin Kaepernick
because her brand matters more than truth.
big expressive man with bigger mustache
appears on conservative fringe TV
with paid program preceded by 90-second disclaimer
big Mike belts out his aria spiel:
buy My Sedition Pillow
after a night’s sleep
you’ll believe the 2020 election never happened
that the government has to be rolled back
and you’ll bellow about me being cancelled
as I add your name to my political donor list
may you sleep many nights on My Sedition Pillow
never waking up to be aware of who I really am
out in front of the Dairy Queen
at the intersection of Highways 25 and 287
youthful male giants once stood as colossi
astride the welcoming landscape of small town 70s
naked streaking all the way to White’s Auto
fights where karate was defeated by groin kick
Kiss and Led Zeppelin (sometimes Herbie Hancock)
provided background music from 8-track car stereos
>
their world couldn’t hold back change
some graduated, others did not
one or two left town ahead of baby births
the Dairy Queen died so Texas One Stop could live
White’s Auto is now a Dollar General
the colossi are now grandparents
the youth of today drive their giant trucks
get their provisions from One Stop
and drive away fast with trucker hat country
as CD and FM stereo background music of choice
blasts away their anxieties over nothing being certain anymore
sweep away broken glass
wipe the inhuman stain off cracked walls
restock the long-empty shelves
renew customer service
hire new, well-vetted employees
reopen 24/7/365 for all, not just the few
after the deaths and desecration the Democrats and the Republicans are set to agree in their own ways to move on and put the demon back in the bottle so people will get back to consuming, waiting for the vaccine and increasing stock prices after a few days to allow public venting and promises of a post- Presidency Senate trial plus saying pretty pretty please to the malign immovable object still hunkering down in the Oval Office making his pardon list and checking it twice while periodically looking at TV to see if anyone’s still weeping over his being silenced by social media meanwhile agitators whose names we all know refuse to resign on principle (President-elect says vote them out next election) just like the President whose poisonous water they still carry through the moral desert they choose to live in—and please remember 70 million people, some of them wanting nothing more than tax cuts, judges, persecution of immigrants and environmental deregulation, these 70 million who voted for Donald Trump and Michael Pence have to own their role in the deaths (including a Capitol Policeman) that resulted from The Donald trying to stay in office at his pleasure, almost marching democracy to the gallows erected outside
