Wednesday, January 30, 2013

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.

Friday, January 25, 2013

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.