Shot Through the Blame

(Apologies to Jon Bon Jovi)

This poet knows
enough of history
to know that
the theory of the heart

being the warehouse
and processing plant of emotion
went out with the black bile
(generally speaking).

Still Dick Cheney
has a book out now
detailing how
in the year 2012

our doctors finally gave him
a brand-new one

and this poet
cannot help but think

he gave names
(and names
and names)
a bad heart
(bad heart).

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.

United She Stands

Until more recently than
this regular-
attempting-to-be-a-decent
-poet
-person
-and-citizen
(and already-exemplary-speller)
is happy to admit

she thought the Nobel
in Nobel Prize
was an alternate spelling
of Noble.
(Sorry.)

Malala Yousafzai
the girl who survived
the bullets of misguided men

did not win a prize
for her nobilty.

Yet she remains an inspiration
surely she is

but the world needs
not only the one
who stands in front
vulnerable

but the many
who will walk behind
in her defense.

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.

But Not for G(OP)

(Apologies to George Gershwin)

O's got his bills of health
but not for me

gives blacks
Latinos wealth
and takes from me.

With O' to lead the way
I'm bound like Shades of Grey

more than those Russian gays
do publicly.

It all began so well
but what an end

This is the time
rich fellas need a friend.

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.