A Particulate Matter
Trump wants to tariff Canadian wildfire smoke
Nope, it’s not a joke!
Make America Gasp Again
That was never our aim!
Smoke doesn’t take orders
It doesn’t recognize borders
It respects no bastion
It’s a product of combustion (ouch!)
So, hey all you fossil fools
Put away those tariff tools
No need for brainstorming
It’s global warming
No need for brainstorming
It’s global warming!
Go Fly a Kite
blatant weather
so unashamedly spring
cherry blossoms striking iPhone poses
the sun making promises
it cannot possibly keep
on Easter Sunday
while the churchgoing are going to church
we vote in the federal election
on Easter Monday
after giving Jesus his day
Pope Francis shuffles quietly off the mortal
and leaves us to talk of tariffs, annexation
I look north to the snow-capped peaks
and the wilderness beyond
and I think
we could mount a resistance from there
if it comes to it
if it comes to it
lately, the phrase
that could never happen
seems impossibly naïve
I submit a version of this poem
to Poets Respond at Rattle Magazine
and get a form rejection
but I understand
they receive so many submissions
and they are so polite
meanwhile to the south
the behemoth awakens
a faint, melancholy stirring in his loins
he remembers that he was once the Loin King
and now he’s just the king of all that he destroys
and it doesn’t seem like enough.
Taking part in Open Link over at dverse.
The Sheriff Of Tariffdom
Down by Locarno Beach
two guys in camouflage pants
are repeatedly checking
underneath their parked Tesla
they check, they get back in the car
they don’t start the car
they get back out
they check underneath the car again
what could they be looking for?
Snow-capped mountains
an empty eagle’s nest
in the bare branches of a tree
is this a symbol?
Is everything a symbol?
Nope,
the eagle is down on the beach
searching for snacks in tide pools
is this a metaphor?
Is everything a metaphor?
April’s Fools Day, and to the south of us
The Sherriff of Tariffdom
The Prince of Petulance
The Toddler King
is looking for his Sharpie.
The prompt over at dverse is :
“So for this prompt our writing will be in the Open Poetry Form, otherwise known as Free Verse or Vers Libre. This is not to be regarded as an anarchic free-for -all but rather poetry set free from the uniform straight jacket.”
For more on Laura’s excellent prompt, read here.
Dispatch from La Costa Gringa
A baby’s soother in the sand
plastic nipple blackening
in the Mexican sun.
Tequila on the rocks
Iguanas on the rocks
A girl with a falcon
by the breakfast buffet.
Down here on La Costa Gringa
it’s still Margaritaville
but no one I see is wasting away
and no one, absolutely no one
wants to talk politics.
In the markets though
they’re selling t shirts
saying Canada and Mexico
are not for sale.
A gay couple from San Francisco
get married on the beach.
Why does this seem threatened?
Why does everything seem threatened?
And to the north of us
a president out of an abandoned Vonnegut novel
is making friends with enemies
making enemies out of friends.
Taking part in Open Link over at dverse.
Donald Trump announced today that the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) will from now on be called the America Goose (Goosaurus Americanus). He says that Canada has been stealing American birds for too long and now it’s payback time!
Wait…..this just in….Donald has now banned the use of Latin to name animals, plants and flowers. He says “For too long , we have kowtowed to the Romans, but no more, from now on the only empire is the American Empire!”
If you’re reading this message I recommend you join TOT, Turn Off Trump. You’ll find that both your mental health and your relationship with the truth will vastly improve (clinical studies have shown).
The Editor, Vapid Magazine
Stopdraggingthepanda 