1/17/2017 Two Poems by Laura PageFLOTUS & Bees Melania Trump sat in a white dress at a white table with a fork and spoon, twirling a thick platinum rope necklace in a bowl like a piece of bucatini. Anya Sacharow, NPR One of the things the FLOTUS is famous for is bringing honey to Americans’ kitchens. This is on her mind as she logs on, reads an article bemoaning the death of bees, another, the nation’s sticky situation.The up and coming first lady is an immigrant, she reminds herself, and she weighs their differences. Her late father is Czech. Mom’s from Oklahoma. If her small-town self were the First, what would she contribute to the national plate? Would her ministrations be as practical as she’s forced to make them now, and if not-- sweet or savory? Either way, the bees are dying. It’s not just sunny Cali’s almonds, it’s legumes too—kidney, lima, green. Her husband’s grandparents still live in Mexico. For them it’s a paste, frijoles refritos. Her husband—for a month a paste has held him silent. It’s not beans, not raw clover honey. She logs out. The rest of the morning she tries to unstick her mind from the FLOTUS & bees. American Sun The orange glow emanating from that man is the sun setting on American progress, however slow and halting. -Charles M. Blow, New York Times Op-ed Nov 21, 2016 This morning the sun rose with a fever and walked to the corner store in a hoodie. The shopkeeper called the cops when a slender ray warmed the counter. She just wanted a smoke. * This morning the sun boarded a bus in a cloudy hijab. All the white ironic tees lowered their smartscreens, gawked at the arabesques blinking through links of the pull-chain.. * This morning the sun moved a pile of the New York Times off the countertop, ground some coffee beans. Hurry up, miss housekeeping, you’ll be late for nine-o-clock, said the boss. * This morning the sun came out. She beams non-binary, but didn’t they all know that already? Legislators promise to push an obligatory closet for all queer suns. * This morning the sun rose with a fever again. She tried to quit The smokes after the reports of Quelccaya’s dramatic weight loss, but to hell with it. She needs a light. * This morning the sun called in. She can barely breathe, she needs a personal day. Her inbox is flooded. NASA, the EPA: It’s just a flare, right? Come back, please. Make America Shine Again. Bio: Laura Page is the founding editor of Virga Magazine. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming from Rust+Moth, Crab Creek Review, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Red Paint Hill, and others. She is the author of two chapbooks, "Children, Apostates" (Dancing Girl Press, 2016) and "Sylvia Plath in the Major Arcana" (Anchor & Plume, forthcoming). Comments are closed.
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