Civil Wrongs

It goes both ways.

If a bakery or a florist
can refuse to serve gay people

then a restaurant
can turn away a woman

who defends the president's
policy of child separation

and his consideration
of stripping the grown-ups
of their right to a fair trial.

And anyone calling for civility now
needs to be sure their request
goes to the people
who are denying civil rights.



This poem © 2018 Emily Cooper.

Lies Without a Face

Coming this summer
is a movie about laws

that have created themselves
and must be obeyed
at any cost

even if everyone
is mad at you

and says
what you're doing
is immoral and wrong.

In this movie
our Tweeting hero

only wants a compassionate border wall
to appease those amorphous laws
and solve all the problems

making him
and not the children

the real victim
in this completely-made up
and convoluted situation

that fortunately
only exists as an idea.

(Whew!)


This poem © 2018 Emily Cooper.

Shake-A-Spear

While we are living
in the reality
in which the American chimpanzee

did not choose to storm out
of the room
or fling anything
at the other one

and by the standards
of this chimp
that is notable

we should not get it confused
with one in which
our chimp is terribly concerned

with the other's penchant
for starvation and murder

and is prepared
or even thinks there is a need
to take him to task.

In his own words
Trump apparently took at face value
that Kim Jong-un
"loves his country very much"

and has normalized
the leader's actions
by saying

"It's a rough situation over there.
It's rough in a lot of places
by the way."

This poem © 2018 Emily Cooper.

Just Assume Obama Said It

“This is the part of my speech
where I share
some inspirational quotes I found on Google”

said 18-year-old
Pineville Kentucky
Bell County High School valedictorian Ben Bowling

to the 82-percent
Trump-voting audience

“‘Don’t just get involved.
Fight for your seat at the table.

Better yet
fight for a seat
at the head of the table.'
 —Donald J. Trump.”

Applause rang out
until moments later

Bowling burst their bubble
and said

“Just kidding.
Just kidding.
That was Barack Obama"

and save for a few giggles
and a solitary "Boo"
silenced the room completely

revealing not so flatteringly
that Trump's attribution
of Obama's legacy

(the parts he likes at least)

to himself

are the only way
some voters
will remember it.


This poem © 2018 Emily Cooper.