A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House and his regime
Nan Wigington
After the Election
after The Intrigue (1890) by James Ensor (Belgian, 1860–1949)
We ran home
— costumes smeared, torn —
and tried to remove the masks.
Sweat, dirt glued rubber to skin, acrylic to hair.
Gilbert could no longer see out of his skeleton eyes,
had to be led. Samson’s clown lips would not part.
Bettina clutched at Edward. Help, she wanted to say.
Only grunts emerged from her piggish snout.
Clementine forgot the baby in her arms, shook it like a doll.
Until its eyes opened and closed, until it no longer breathed.
Leroy flicked his nylon pompadour and shouted,
“We shall be free again!”
Although we all knew it was too late.
Nan Wigington‘s poems and flash fiction have appeared in Alternative Milk Magazine, Idle Ink, Tiny Molecules, Molotov Cocktail, The Ekphrastic Review and other journals. She lives in a large retirement community on the eastern edge of Denver.
Indolent Books and editor Michael Broder are back with another poem-a-day series as a creative response to the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House. The plan is to continue for all 1460 days of the 47th American presidency.
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