After Inauguration: 2017

Chapter One

And yes, a new king rose over Egypta rabid creature in the shape of a manwithout a consciencea man with small handsa rubbery pink mouththat poured lies like oilemitted hate like carbon dioxidegreedy to devour men, women and childrenan abominationAnd the spirits of the women rose up,and on a determined day they marchedin the capital city and many other citiesthey marched for kindnessand dignity in this worldthey filled the streets and highwayswith love and songthey took photographs of each other's clever signsthey mocked the kingthey marched with babies and men of good heartthey ralliedthey returned to their homesbut the king was still there—the king still saton his throne of money

Chapter Two

—with a nod to "Paradise Lost," Book II

A stroke of the penwhat good what harma stroke of the penlike a twist of the arm

a stroke of the penlike a puppy's turda stroke of the penmany acts of murder

A stroke of the penin the war against womenthe smirks of the menare always well-hidden

Except for the manmost powerful on the earthfinger above the buttonhe smirks and smirks and smirks

A stroke of the pen—a keyboard tapin the devil's denthe devil's crap.

Chapter Three

Eight-Word LinesSpeeding through the funhouse    tunnel, catching glimpses ofmyself in the funhouse    mirrors, unlike the mirrorsof the proletarian park    in Coney Island wheremy father saved up    to take me everyfourth of July back    when America was famousfor spacious skies, amber    waves of grain, libertyand justice for all,    the funhouse mirrors couldexpand and contract you,    lengthen and fatten you, Eight-Word Lines

distort you but only    temporarily, because America wasa free country, we    could giggle at ourselvesand walk away, we    Jews were especially luckyliving in this free    country, a country withoutpogroms, we could vote    we could defeat tyrantsand bigots we could    end persecution and povertyand I can't quite    remember getting on the

train that brought us    to this funhouse wherethe dim-lit corrugated latex    tunnel like the interiorof a large insect whips    us along waving tendrilswaving mirrors twisting our    images to images ofthe king smiling at    us in our basketsin the rushing Nile    loudly wailing and screamingbodies of infants bobbing    in the surrounding water

this chapter does not include the king's daughter

Chapter Four

"Sorry, the page you're looking for cannot be found," isthe message Internet users get when trying to access theSpanish version of the White House page … created in themonths following President Barack Obama's swearing in in2009. Up until Jan. 20, the site also had a blog dedicated toissues considered of interest for the Hispanic community.—Fox news

"Sorry the page you are looking for cannot be found"—my laptop screen

Because there is nothing new under the sunlet's look for precedents: Emperor Shih Huang Tibuilt the wall and burned the booksin the third century before Jesus so we havean idea what to expect: say goodbye to the Spanishlanguage version of the White House web pageand the associated blogs thereof, goodbye to scienceand jurisprudence, hello informers, hello more and more massiveaccumulations of wealth, hello gulag, hello to the songsof resistance, the poems inscribed on toilet paperand slivers of soap, memory sharpenedlike a steak knife, all borders closed,a time to wait. A time to refrain from waiting.

Chapter Five

In the Shadow of Liberty

Winter's been warm and rainy, here in the city,although the day we marched, bright sunlightfilled millions of hearts already openedto radical entries of hope and fear.

It was like this all over the planet—we trust the photographs, we trust our women'shearts like the open borders we march for,sunlight, as if there's a god, and clever signs...