What Rough Beast | Poem for July 21, 2019

Adam Malinowski
Devotion

To the yellow vests—divorce him! Turn to murder.
And frozen yogurt. A ransacked Nordstrom’s Rack.
A virus found in a Liberian bat. Bricks for
restless millennials.

To a Galapagos turtle—the buzzing of the hot sun
evaporates us. Pour a drink of herbs, spiced with lemon
—bulldozing Davos.

To my conservative nephew—demon! Orators
of Army fantasies. Tomahawks
directed toward a saintly village.

Myself at 25—a suicide bomber’s mission.

To the spirit of the service-worker—such expert reporters!

Cults, such as Fox, which squander “human life.”
We are whatever where we wander—subject to
Impulse—the overturning of a police wagon. The burning
of a CVS.

Icy TSA. Fat as a fish. Ten months of a red night, my heart pulls amber.
Nuclear shutdown. Release of toxic waste. A tornado.

But then no more.

Poems by Adam Malinowski have appeared in  Poets Reading the News, Philosophical Idiot, and in Mirage #5/Period(ical) #6. They hold an MA in Creative Writing from Eastern Michigan University, live in Detroit, and facilitate a poetry workshop at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti, Mich.

SUBMIT to What Rough Beast via our SUBMITTABLE site.