What Rough Beast | 07 12 20 | Chad Parenteau

Chad Parenteau
Resistance Tankas, An Occasional Series

Ghislaine Maxwell Jesus

Confessions are all
to Ghislaine Maxwell Jesus
who’s heard everyone’s,
escaped to the desert with
no one above her to share.

Fred Trump Jesus Tanka

Fred Trump Jesus says
sure he can change stone to bread,
but why do that when
there’s a perfectly good stone
and someone in front of him?

Freddie Trump Jesus Tanka

Freddie Trump Jesus
refuses father’s trick to
turn blood to more blood.
He turns own blood into wine,
chokes on own lack of hubris.

Mary Trump Jesus Tanka

Mary Trump Jesus
only had to wait four years,
come down from desert,
write what we already knew
and sell it back as scripture.

Roger Stone Jesus Tanka, Take Two

Roger Stone Jesus
says you don’t have to be like
other messiahs.
You can sleep with own silver,
resting place never undone.

—Submitted on 07/12/2020

Chad Parenteau is the author of The Collapsed Bookshelf (Tell-Tale Chapbooks, 2020) and Patron Emeritus (FootHills Publishing, 2013). His poems have appeared in Headline Poetry & Press, The Skinny, Tell-Tale InklingsQueen Mob’s Tea House, Ibbetson Street, and other journals. He is associate editor of Oddball Magazine and hosts the Stone Soup Poetry series in Boston. Online at chadparenteaupoetforhire.com.

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