Poetry

Susan Melkisethian photo

By

Alejandro Escudé

Champion

What is a shutdown but a pet?

The circumnavigating galleon on a desk,

coins thrown into a galactic fountain

filled with koi. You heard it all

when you were a boy.

The slamming of the sign that read:

Play Like A Champion Today.

We weren’t the Fighting Irish

but a high school in the South Bay.

Stars will frighten other stars.

No one stays very long in the bars.

Today, many faces on the TV screen

belong to the President at the local Best Buy.

I stand there, on blue carpet, waiting

for someone to help me buy a smarter television

than the one I have. When the anthem is over

at the ball game, I clap, though I don’t

have a big paycheck, no luck.

I’ve always preferred sentiment to fact.

Is there such a thing as an act

when one works for the government?

Alejandro Escudé

Alejandro Escudé’s first book of poems, My Earthbound Eye, was published in September 2013. He holds a master’s degree in creative writing from UC Davis and teaches English. Originally from Argentina, Alejandro lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.