Poetry

AFP photo

By

Charlie Brice

The March

Using The Washington Post’s (January 20, 2017) list of 27 words never before used in an inaugural address

We bleed freedom,

the unstoppable potion

against the promised windswept landscape

of depletion and disrepair;

against the carnage he proposes:

stealing healthcare from millions

while procuring trillions

for a subsidized oil industry,

turning disagreements into rusted

tombstones of political cant,

waging a sad war against

millions of Islamic believers

for the misguided violence

of a few.

Flush with lady liberty

we march in solidarity

with the vast sprawl of humanity

who still believe in kindness,

in the untapped compassion within,

and with those who honor

our urban siblings trapped

in the trammels of poverty.

Here and overseas freedom’s

people tunnel into the infrastructure

of justice, and celebrate virtue

ripped from a tyrant’s digits.

Office

Of·fice (ofis, ofis): n. 1. A room with

four walls, sometimes in the shape

of an oval, that usually contains

a desk and other materials

for conducting business.

Example: In January, 2009, Barack Obama

walked into the Oval Office

knowing that his job

was to care for and love

his country in the way

he cared for and loved

his wife, Michelle,

and their two daughters;

eight years later

he walked into history

having achieved that goal.

2. A political post, either elected,

appointed, or ordained.

Example: President Obama brought

to the office of the president

dignity and grace—the imprimatur

of kindness, compassion,

and wisdom.

3. A prayerful rite and/or ritualized prayer

performed by clergy or other religions persons.

Example: The berobed monk folds

his hands above his purfled cuffs

and prays that his country

won’t be transformed into

a hateful place where men brag

about molesting women, make fun

of handicapped people, humiliate

the parents of a Muslim man

who gave his life for his country,

ban Muslims from entering the United States

because they are Muslims, build

a Soviet-style wall of shame

on its southern border, make

it impossible for sick people

to get insurance, receive chemotherapy,

or endure illness without bankruptcy,

and would never, ever, ridicule a man

whose jaw is still mangled and misshapen

from beatings he took at the hands

of white racists in Selma Alabama.

Antonyms:

1. Gold-gilded lobby of a babbling tower in Manhattan

2. Jingoistic self-aggrandizing right wing propaganda rallies

3. Vituperative, narcissistic, obsessional tweeting that embarrasses the country

Charlie Brice

I am a retired psychoanalyst living in Pittsburgh. My full length poetry collection, Flashcuts Out of Chaos, is published by WordTech Editions (2016). My poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in The Kentucky Review, The Atlanta Review, Hawaii Review, Chiron Review, The Dunes Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Sports Literate, Avalon Literary Journal, Icon, The Paterson Literary Review, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Spitball, Barbaric Yawp, VerseWrights, The Writing Disorder, and elsewhere.