I’d prefer if you counted
the red, white and blue balloons
instead of politicos,
inhale the rhetorical helium
that transforms normal voices
into falsettos of hypertension,
words lost in the vast empty
ceiling of a Cleveland arena.
Try stabbing a finger
into the paunchy gut
of the next vacuous promise
inflated by rage.
Oh Ohio, all week you’ve built
a future on a platform of fear,
thinking it will rise
for the next four years.
David Feela writes a monthly column for The Four Corners Free Press and for The Durango Telegraph. A poetry chapbook, Thought Experiments, won the Southwest Poet Series. His first full length poetry book The Home Atlas appeared in 2009. His new book of essays How Delicate These Arches released through Raven's Eye Press, has been chosen as a finalist for the Colorado Book Award.