Teach Your Children Well

On April 25th in 1983

the Soviet Union
released a letter

that Russian leader Yuri Andropov
had written in response

to a note from an American fifth-grader
named Samantha Smith
from Manchester Maine

who asked if the Soviets
were planning to start
a nuclear war.

He answered

that Russia wanted
to “live in peace
to trade and cooperate
with all our neighbors on the globe

no matter how close
or far away they are

and certainly
with such a great country

as the United States of America.”

In this reality

Andropov invited Smith
to the Soviet Union

and she became
an ambassador for peace

until she was tragically killed
in a plane crash

in August of 1985
at the age of 13.

This event is just one
which would be rewritten
in history textbooks

via an executive order
from the Trump presidency

changing the story

to end with Smith's plane
being shot down
by the USSR.

This just makes it all the more important
for people of all ages
to learn our shared history

before we all
are doomed to repeat
Trump's version of it.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Nothing Compared 2 U

Happy Actual
but Unofficial Birthday
(plus one day)

to the Queen

and Happy "We Acknowledge
That This is Our Shared

Even if Certain Interests
Would Rather Have it For Themselves" Earth Day

and of course

Happy First Day
of Purple Reign

in the Afterlife

2 U
the 1 and only Prince.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

A Pint of Conviction

The co-founders
of Ben & Jerry's ice cream

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield

along with approximately 300 other people

have been arrested

after participating
in the "Democracy Awakening" protests

on the Capitol steps
in Washington, D.C..

The coincidentally Vermont-based
Bernie Sanders'-supporting owners

are no strangers
to creating politically topical names
for their flavors

though "The Average Price
of Acquiring This Arrestingly Good Pint

and Coincidentally Our Only Hope
for Reviving a Democratic Govern-mint

is $27"

may be a little unwieldy.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Rough Justice

When Donald Trump says

“The Republican National Committee
they’d better get going

because I’ll tell you what
you’re going to have a rough July
at that convention”

it's really not his fault
that most of his words

are accompanied by a thinly-veiled overtone
of tiny-handed violence

(Oh wait a minute

yes it is.)

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Cruz-ing for Jesus

The popular porn site xHamster
is now greeting visitors
from North Carolina

with a petition
asking them to support LGBT rights

after first having
blocked them completely

after the passage of HB2.

However bizarre it may seem
for a porn site
to take a political stance

against an unjust bill

(considering some of the un-PC labels

used for categories of racy videos
featuring members
of said community)

it makes a whole lot more sense

than a politician
taking a stance
against sex toys.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Points of Inflection

In a speech he made
in his and coincidentally
Bernie Sanders'

home state of New York
Donald Trump said

"Take a look
at what's happening to Bernie.

He wins
he wins
he wins
he wins

and I hear
he doesn't have a chance"

and added

"I'm not a fan of Bernie.
I couldn't care less 
about Bernie.

But he wins
like me.

This is a 
crooked system folks."

Trump's misunderstanding
of delegates
and primaries and caucuses

and most things notwithstanding

the two candidates
would appear to be in agreement

on that general point.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

The Blaze of Insight

According to Glenn Beck

the world
is in a state of chaos

because Americans
are worshiping the pre-Abrahamic deities
Baal and Moloch.

"It was worship the god of finance
the god of war
and the god of the earth.

I mean, we’re there"

he said.

While understanding
that this was probably not
his intended meaning

those first two "gods"

of wealth inequality
and unjust war

are two which Bernie Sanders wants addressed

(or "slain"
if one is being pre-Abrahamic).

And as is common
for someone in his
perpetually mentally turned-on state

Beck mispronounced
the names of the deities

whose real appellations

are Malice and Bullshit.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Can't Trump Reality

The Villanova Wildcats

defeated the Tar Heels
77 to 74

giving them their first win
in 31 years

but UNC made
a valiant effort

and can take solace
in their victories

at five previous
NCAA Tournament Championships.

Meanwhile Donald Trump

continues to lose favor
even among hardcore Republicans

and was only
ever a winner

in the minds
of the people
who trusted him.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Don't Know Much

(Sung by President Obama about Donald Trump)
(Apologies to Sam Cooke)

Don't know much
foreign policy

Don't know much
'bout nuclear armory

Don't know much
'bout how Korea's built

Don't know much
'bout the whole damn world.

But he thinks
he has half a clue

and he thinks

when his two terms are through

what a wonderful world
this would be.

(And that's no
April Fool's joke.)

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Chronic Conditions

President Obama
has commuted the sentences

of 61 drug offenders.

Whoopi Goldberg

wants to start
a new line of weed

to help women ease the pain
of their menstrual cramps

and has teamed up
with owner of Om Edibles
Maya Eastman

to create "Maya & Whoopi".

The company will offer edibles
tinctures and topical rubs

though the products
will for the time being
only be available in California.

And Donald Trump
has claimed that women who get
illegal abortions

should be punished

then quickly recanted the statement

after being roundly condemned
by both pro-choice
and pro-life groups.

What all these stories
have in common
is that legalized marijuana

may be the only way
women et cetera

can cope with the side effects
of a Trump presidency.

(The resulting paranoia
comes from the Trump

not from the weed.)

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Birdie Sanders

Bernie Sanders
has won Washington
Oregon and Hawaii

and on Friday

at a rally
in Portland

a small bird
unexpectedly landed on his podium

surrounded by a chorus of cheers
from the crowd

and Sanders
used it as an opportunity

to say that the bird
was really a dove

telling us 
that there should be
no more war.

And meanwhile
that bald eagle

which attacked Donald Trump

is reportedly
still not on speaking terms

with the Republican candidate.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

We Are Not This

Following the terrible attacks in Belgium

the governor of this poet's home state
Pat McCrory

thought the wisest course of action

to preclude such a thing
happening in North Carolina

would be to pass a bill
which undoes the right
of transgender people

to terrorize our public restrooms
and hopelessly confuse us

by using the men's or women's room
as corresponds to their gender identity

and not the one
to which they were assigned at birth

and in addition
which prohibits municipalities
from passing their own ordinances

which cater
to transgender people

or to the rest
of the LGBT community at all.

And thus
North Carolina
remains a safe place

for Pat McCrory

(for now).

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Having A New Start

And so has been reached
the exciting conclusion

of what President Obama started
in December of 2014

when he said
"Today the United States of America
is changing its relationship

with the people of Cuba"

after today he met
with President Raúl Castro

in Havana

for an historic visit
including an unprecedented
question-and-answer session.

Well really
more like the beginning

as soon as the US lifts
the trade embargo

and as we all forget
the awkward final handshake

between the two leaders

(while perhaps remembering
its unintentional symbolism).

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Less-than-Basic Instinct

Lest it be thought
that Donald Trump

would only mock a protester
or a reporter

or someone from
a minority group

be they either of the aforementioned
or merely existing

it should be known
that at a rally on Monday

with the latest former
GOP-candidate-turned-reluctant-endorser
Chris Christie
by his side

Trump used him
to make a point

about "absentee" governors
saying that “even more than Chris Christie"

Ohio Governor John Kasich

"was there”
as someone
campaigning in New Hampshire

and thereby
not governing his own state

then non-apologized to his mortified ally
by saying

“I hated to do that
but I had to make my point.”

Luckily for Trump

his "primary consultant"

told him
it was okay.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Inciting a Why Not

To the Cumberland County
Sheriff's Department

who was considering
charging Donald Trump

with inciting a riot
but then decided against it

and who don't normally make decisions

based on the words of poets

please take a moment
to reconsider.

And this taxpayer

will happily pay
your legal fees.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.