United Now We See

If there's something
that's even better

than a president
singing "Let's Stay Together"

it's a president
singing "Amazing Grace."

“Sometimes I think
that’s the best thing to hope for
when you’re eulogized

after all the words and recitations
and resumes are read

to just say somebody
was a good man.”

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Love for the Win

When Little Billy says
"Marriage is so gay"

the proper response now is

"Now Billy

that's not right.

You can be married
and not be gay

or gay
and not be married."


This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

The Cause of the Rebel

The South Carolina legislature
is now considering
Governor Nikki Haley's request

to remove the Confederate flag
from the state Capitol

and other Southern states
with coincidentally Republican governors
are following suit.

Retailers including Amazon
Wal-Mart
Sears and eBay

are starting to ban
the sale of Confederate-adorned items.

Removing the symbol
won't fix what lies beneath it

and is step one of x

but some people have asked

why we can't just separate
the symbol
from its "ism".

That might be answered by

who gets to wear the symbol

and who gets to wear
the symbol's "ism"?


This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

The Last Poets

The words
will not end here.

President Obama
had this to say.

"I refuse to act
as if this is the new normal

or to pretend
that it's simply sufficient to grieve

and that any mention
of us doing something
to stop it

is somehow
politicizing the problem."

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Shake Your Money Maker

Hey ladies

prepare to have
your demographic acknowledged
on some paper currency

or to be specific
the 10-dollar bill.

The query
about the absence of women
on paper money

was in fact
first posited by a 10-year-old
human female named Sofia

from Massachusetts

and then that mission
was adopted by the group
Women On 20s.

While the lucky lady
won't get to upend Andrew Jackson

she may do that
to Alexander Hamilton

or be printed concurrently
(leading to an exciting
battle of the sexes
in a wallet or purse

when receiving change back
from the aforementioned 20). 

She says
"I really think
that if anyone has an idea

that they think would be important
or something they think
needs to change

then they should
do something about it."

Which means
that someone with that much faith
in the system

is thereby required
to lobby on behalf
of everyone

and kindly request
that the girly greenbacks
are worth more

than three-fourths
of the dudely dinero.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Donald Trumps Logic

Who is this vaguely
orangey-looking person

who tricked the country
into thinking
he was a legitimate Republican presidential candidate?

Probably not Donald Trump

though in a March poll
done by the Wall Street Journal

only seventy-four percent
of his peers

said they wouldn't
vote for him.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Decisions in the Right Time

Hillary Clinton has officially
entered the race

with a few controversial messages
aimed at America's non-billionaires

at the rally held
on New York City's Roosevelt Island

such as "It's time
your time

to secure the gains
and move ahead"

and "America can't succeed
unless you succeed"

and "The middle class
needs more growth and more fairness
for a lasting prosperity"

and perhaps most egregiously
"Democracy can't just be
for billionaires and corporations."

Now we await Jeb Bush's response

after he recovers
from his foreign policy trip to Estonia

a tiny European country
that led the world
by legalizing online voting
more than 10 years ago

and almost nine years ago
was visited by his brother George

who became the first sitting president
to do so.

If he is smart
he will play off
his brother's legacy

by distinguishing himself

as Future President of the Past

his "own man"
that will not have made
those same bad decisions

(or at least those
that we found less than desirable)

as George did.


This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

The Poetry Makers

The next US poet laureate

will be 66-year-old
Juan Felipe Herrera
from California

who has already served
as the state's poet laureate
from 2012 to 2014.

He will be the first Chicano poet

appointed to the position.

Herrera grew up in a family
of migrant farm workers

who found themselves
in various tents and trailers
in the San Joaquin Valley.

He was inspired
by his mother's spontaneous recitations

of poems she remembered
from her childhood.

He was drawn to folk music
and experimental theater

and compelled by the Chicano
civil rights movement
to learn more about indigenous cultures.

Over the years
he has written nearly thirty books

and has taught creative writing
at University of California at Riverside.

He has said
“A poem brings a way
to attain a life without boundaries”

as well as that 

"Poetry can tell us
about what's going on
in our lives

not only our personal

but our social
and political lives."

Today Sasha Obama
the president's younger daughter
turns 14.

In some timeline

her harried father
preoccupied with ISIS

has given her free rein
to plan her own birthday party.

After deliberating over the pages
of approved musical acts

she stops
and sighs

and says to herself

"You know what?
Bruno Mars is played out anyway."


This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

A Kardash of Reality

Why do Republicans
suddenly want their party
to Keep Up with the Kardashians?

At least so does
South Carolina Senator
Lindsey Graham

who is running for president in 2016

and has said that “I’m a pro-life
traditional marriage kind of guy.

But I’m running to be
President of the United States.

If Caitlyn Jenner wants to be a Republican
she is welcome in my party."

Well that's fine.

Just be prepared
for your friends in Congress
to pick on you

for your "Obama-style"
telegenic media campaign

influenced by acceptance
of trashy daytime TV.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

You Dropped A Bomb On Me

Ever on-the-pulse
Rick Santorum

has been getting wise
to Pope Francis's radical views
on the environment

to be further clarified soon
in an encyclical

expected to make the case
that fighting climate change is a moral
and religious imperative.

His new "Google Bomb"

is expected to be

"the frothy mixture

of bigotry and desperate appeasement

to a rapidly-dwindling base that is 

sometimes the byproduct

of GOP campaigning."

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Brute Force of Government

After Rand Paul
successfully blocked an extension

on parts of the Patriot Act
that allowed the government
to collect bulk phone records

which led to their expiry
at 12:01 this morning

he reassured his fellows

that "We can still catch terrorists
using the Constitution."

While the USA Freedom Act
has already been approved
in the House

he has also blocked immediate action
on that piece of legislation
for a few days.

Now where's the Saturday morning cartoon
of him and a motley
libertarian cast of youth voters

carting away both terrorists
and big-government freedom and privacy violators
with a We The People lasso

into the "History Machine"

decked out in the psychedelic colors
of the Founding Fathers

which are red
and white and blue
and blackish and brownish
and grayish

as found in their coats

(never minding
Hillary's calculated real-life attempt
at such a van years ago

whereas this cartoon
would be nothing but authentic)

who utter
with one last helpless breath

"And I would have gotten away
with it too

if it weren't for
that meddling Constitution"?


This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.