What Rough Beast | 08 17 20 | Chad Parenteau

Chad Parenteau
Resistance Tankas for Pandemic Times

Herman Cain Jesus Tanka

Herman Cain Jesus
doesn’t carry any cross
but takes each story
taking pictures with his guards,
sharing wine with everyone.

Stella Immanuel Jesus Tanka

Her sole miracle
S. Immanuel Jesus
turns any liquid
to hydroxychloroquine.
Demon sperm won’t purge itself.

Jerry Falwell Jr. Jesus Tanka

In last ditch effort,
ol’ Jerry Jr. Jesus
has exiled himself
from own temple, just to keep
moneylenders from leaving.

Joe Arpaio Jesus Tanka

All they say is why,
why, Jim Arpaio Jesus,
didn’t you stay gone?
We had all forsaken you
and kept the boulder unbudged.

Kamala Harris Jesus

From Book of Hashtags:
Kamala Harris Jesus
is Judas, Peter
Pontius Pilate, and both guards
standing under her own cross.

—Submitted on 08/12/2020

Chad Parenteau is the author of The Collapsed Bookshelf (Tell-Tale Chapbooks, 2020) and Patron Emeritus (FootHills Publishing, 2013). His poems have appeared in Résonancee, Boston Literary Magazine, Queen Mob’s Tea-House, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, 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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