Mandatory Trump Education Lesson 3

Listen Donnie

in the process
of making America great again

you do not have time
for victory rallies

or for being a sore winner.


This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper

Mandatory Trump Education Lesson 2

Listen Donnie

when you're the president
you get certain privileges and perks

but if you had ever
read the Constitution
you might have noted

that “no Person holding any Office of Profit
or Trust under them shall
without the Consent of the Congress

accept of any present
Emolument
Office or Title

of any kind whatever
from any King

Prince
or foreign State.”

When you refuse
to put your business

in a blind trust

you need to realize
that you are asking us
the American people

to put our blind trust
in you.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper

Mandatory Trump Education Lesson 1

Listen Donnie

you may think
that a $25 million-dollar settlement

is not a tacit admission
of defrauding your Trump University students

(but you also know
you're not one
to just give away money)

that your daughter
taking control of your company
and meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister

is no big deal
to national security

and that Mike Pence
getting "harassed"
at Hamilton

by being given a speech
encouraging him and you
to respect people of color

is the best thing
to Tweet about
the next day

but it would do you good
to try to understand

why some of us think
you are not acting presidential.


This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper

Mandatory Trump Education (Prelude)

Listen Donnie
you didn't want to be president

and more than half of us
didn't want you to be either

but now that you're here
we've got to teach you.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper

By Any Other Name

Tomorrow is Election Day

and only one of the major candidates' full names

contains both "nation lady"
and "matriarchy"

but perhaps some
will instead have a newfound "clarity"

because they realize this person is "rational"
or has an actual "charity"

and still others
may simply like the fact that this person
is "not him (Don)".

Whatever fuels the decision
it's time to make it

or break it

(the fabric 
of our democracy
is all).



This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper

The Fate of the Republic

On Wednesday
an unusually warm November day

this poet
was just one member of
the sweaty huddled masses

who in between
listening to down-ballot Democrats
and James Taylor

was waiting for hours
on the Hooker Fields' AstroTurf
yearning to see

President Obama

who would give a speech
encouraging us to vote
for Hillary Clinton.

Naturally while we were fully "with her"
for the future

we were with him now.

While he spoke

this poet had two thoughts

one that maybe
if everyone here
this multi-hued cross-section of America

consisting largely
of Trump's deplorables

(who unlike Hillary's
merely exist on the same planet as he)

and Baby Boomer ladies
wearing "Nasty Woman" hats

and pale college kids
saying "Preach!"

and singing to "Carolina in My Mind"

(despite not being born
till 30 years after the song's release)

were in agreement
about our future

then maybe
"the fate of the republic"
could be supported on our shoulders

and two
that maybe all that repudiation of the wrong
and embrace of the right

wouldn't be enough.




This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper

PFLAG-rant

Nothing conveys Donald Trump's support
for the LGBT community better

than when he retrieved the iconic rainbow flag
with "LGBTs for Trump"
scribbled on it

from a front-row supporter

and proudly displayed it to the audience

ignorant that when the text was readable
the symbolic colors
were in upside-down order

with red at the bottom
and violet at the top

making it entirely possible
that the audience member
is not a member of said community.

In fact
Donald Trump plans to sign
the First Amendment Defense Act

which would allow for discrimination
against LGBT people

and also intends to install Supreme Court justices
who would overturn marriage equality.

It's not his fault
the flag was upside-down

but he's always proud
to overturn human rights.



This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper