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| Cartoon by Mike Luckovich |
America,
transfer power
to a small group
not your victories
not your triumphs
little to celebrate
across our land
this moment
belongs to
historic
crucial
Americans
demand a righteous
system flush with
carnage
pain
one glorious destiny
The oath I take today is
For industry
armies
borders
and
wealth ripped
a decree to
power
a vision
America First
ravages
I will
with every breath
let you down
understanding the right
interests first
impose our way
for everyone
old alliances
will eradicate the Earth
the bedrock of
our country,
prejudice.
The Bible tells us, "How good and pleasant it is when
America is totally unstoppable.”
fear
miseries
national
divisions
black or brown or white,
salute the American
child
be ignored again
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America.
Author’s note: Erasure poems preserve the order of words in the original text but delete many in order to create a new work, in this case a distillation of Trump’s inaugural address as it might have been heard by some.
Floyd Cheung has taught American literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, since 1999. His chapbook Jazz at Manzanar was published by Finishing Line Press in 2014.