NVN Monday: 2 Poems After Trump’s Latest Arrest
THE AWNING OF AMERICA: THE MUG SHOT by Corey Weinstein and CELLULITIS by Felicia Nimue Ackerman
THE AWNING OF AMERICA: THE MUG SHOT
by Corey Weinstein
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Sculpted on the dreams of a silver spooned boy Forged in the hallways of opulence and ease He put the pomp in pompadour Traded pomade for hair spray Built a coiffure to cover his skin head shade his shifty eyes, Homage to the hoody boys of the ‘50s, But back rooms and board rooms Be his back streets and card rooms A greaser of palms, not petty grift, not of need Money making money making money making money. Millions love our boisterous belligerent ex-bully in chief, From the streets of Virginia to ranches out west Thousands gear up to carry the guns he points, White men taste the blood lust of Oklahoma City, Charlottesville, Pittsburg, boom, crash, rat-a-tat-tat, Bullets to hold off the onslaught of history, Afraid to be like me, the only white guy on the Fifty Four bus to Balboa BART, While the gold tressed awning keeps the sun off a raccoon goggled tan, His vision goes no further than the end of his marvelous marquee, sprayed stiff canopy sharp, slicing through reason, challenging democracy.
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Corey Weinstein’s poetry has been published in Vistas and Byways, The New Verse News, Forum (City College of San Francisco), California State Poetry Society, Abandoned Mineand Jewish Currents, and he wrote and performed a singspiel called Erased: Babi Yar, the SS and Me. He is an advocate for prisoner rights and founded California Prison Focus, and he led the American Public Health Association’s Prison Committee for many years. In his free time, he plays the clarinet in a local jazz band, his synagogue choir and woodwind ensembles.
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CELLULITIS
by Felicia Nimue Ackerman
Felicia Nimue Ackerman is a professor of philosophy at Brown University and has had over 260 poems published in places including American Atheist, The American Scholar, Better Than Starbucks, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Down in the Dirt, The Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin, Free Inquiry, Light Poetry Magazine, Lighten Up Online, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Daily News, The New York Times, The Providence Journal, Scientific American, Sparks of Calliope, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Your Daily Poem.