We Know Too Well How to Hate

An Anti-Trump Poetry Reading

It begins with listening.
As writers resist
I hear ridicule
of the ridiculous.
I hear more, again, no!
Hands and penises and size…
No. Like eating ice cream
with my ears
brain freeze
I stop listening.

It begins with listening.
A dozen synonyms
for orange. Tangerine. Cantaloupe.
No! All fruit all fodder all food
for the little ones listening
two girls who giggle
at the ‘bad’ words
“penis” they mouth to each other
a whisper on  tongues
while adults applaud
the resistor at the podium.

Resisting. Begins with listening.
With wrestling
with words with
stamping ‘enemy’
upon the literary
sphere then erasing
it scratching it
away replacing it
with something bigger
than what we
already
hate.

Create
new metaphors more
rhymes, slogans, sounds
heal wounds, juice
oranges, hold hands
and measure better
with words, Listen.

We know too well how
to hate. React. Rhyme
with tangerine. Fidget
with ‘trump.’  Child’s
play. Tell me how
to re-create. Be a band-aid
A cane. To stay
strong . To listen. Question.
Act. Take the
next step
be brave.