Portside

POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN AMERICA, 2018

By Charlotte Muse

He lies, lies, lies.  Makes ‘em laugh.  Scares ‘em hard.

We say, Who’d be dumb enough to believe that shit?

They say, We don’t believe it.  We just like whatever pisses you smug bastards off.

He sings “Crooked Hillary, Lock Her Up.” 

He talks Lyin’ Ted/ Beautiful Ted. 

He calls her Horseface.

He called her Who’d Want to Look at That Every Day.

He says he’s in love with Rocket Man.

They laugh.

We say, Never him.

They say, Get over it.  He won.  

We say, the Russians.  The intel says the Russians.

They say, Fake news.

We say, Mueller.

They say, What’s taking him so long?

We say, What about the women?

They say, So?

We say, What about the phony university?  The phony charity?

They say, Get over it.  He won.

We say, Stiffing his contractors? 

They say, Get over it.  He won.

We say, The children dragged screaming from their parents, what about them?

They say, Shouldn’t have brought them here.

We say, What about your grandparents?

They say, We’ve gotta protect our borders.

We say, He’s in bed with Putin.

He says, Fake news.  Witch hunt.  

They say, Bless you.

They put on red hats and go to rallies.

We whine at them like a cloud of mosquitoes.

He gets richer, he gets stronger. 

That’s the way things are now. 

Everybody’s tuned to the same show. 

Our eyes are half on it no matter what else we’re doing,

and nobody, not the kids, not the unloved land

nor the trash- filled oceans, not the refugees from

wars we started, not the earth dying out from under us

is going to get our full attention.

Charlotte Muse lives in Menlo Park, California, where she writes, teaches poetry, and tutors children in reading.  Her work has been published in various literary journals and anthologies.  She likes to spend as much time as  possible sitting at the bottom of a dry creek staring off into space.  If you want to know more about her, she has a website at <charlottemuse.net>