On Saturday
at the G20 Summit
Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper got fresh
with Russian President Vladimir Putin
when he said
"I guess
I'll shake your hand
but I have only
one thing
to say to you"
which was
'You need
to get out of Ukraine.'"
To that bit
of backhanded diplomacy
(well to be fair
he did endure hours
of mental torture
by constantly having to choose
in the moment
just which non-answer was appropriate
for that particular question
such as lying by omission
phrasing nominally true occurrences
in the form
of self-serving moral positives
or the simple but effective
deflective platitude
to the audience)
Putin spoke
of a "need to sleep"
and took an early flight home.
This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.
