What Rough Beast | Poem for April 11, 2020

Chad Parenteau
Resistance Tankas, Reel 14

Boris Johnson Jesus Tanka

Outside the room of
Boris Johnson Jesus, guards
throw dice on the floor.
Other staff gather to see
who will get to pierce his side.

Linda Tripp Jesus Tanka

Linda Tripp Jesus
took no final confessions
until very end,
her last breath inquisition,
each tear a slipped confession.

Bernie Sanders Jesus Tanka, Take Two

A little more time,
says Bernie Sanders Jesus
while holding the cross.
with one hand. Not ready yet!
I’ll hold this up, hold the nail…

—Submitted on 04/09/2020

Chad Parenteau is the author of Patron Emeritus (FootHills Publishing, 2013). His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Tell-Tale InklingsQueen Mob’s Tea HouseThe Skinny Poetry JournalIbbetson Street, Molecule, and Résonance. He serves as associate editor of Oddball Magazine and hosts the venerable Stone Soup Poetry series in Boston. His second full-length collection, The Collapsed Bookshelf, is forthcoming.

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