The Massive Impact

Though portrayed

as a milquetoast middling

windsurfing senator

from Massachusetts

his words condemning

Vietnam

and making demands

of the men who'd helped to orchestrate

the bloodshed

were enough to get through

to Nixon.

And save thousands

of lives

East and West.

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.

Stated Clearly

If a woman who just recovered
from a concussion
can respond to
calculated naivety
smug put-downs
and even an unpaid alternate universe
presidential campaign speech

without swearing
without shouting
without running crying from the room
without even stopping to rest her eyes
because she is hopelessly boggled

then her brain is just fine
and it is they who need
their heads examined.

(They may have a
pre-existing condition.)

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.

44

He said it first
four years ago,
then again
four years later:
"I want to take a look
one more time."

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.