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Wednesday, October 03, 2018

LOVE SONG FOR A WORD

by Linda Ferguson 




President Trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune he received from his parents, an investigation by The New York Times (October 2, 2018) has found.


Impeach—

my favorite word today,
makes me think of fruit, ripe and juicy,
Herbert’s farm, cart of pumpkins,
and pears, shaped like a womb,
(change the w for a c and get comb—
as in comb your hair in front of the mirror, the place where your eyes meet your eyes),

impeach

makes me think of hands cupping a plentitude of other words:

each, chime, epic, Pam (my big-hearted friend),
ahem (a bid for attention),
ha! (what Truth exclaims when she
slips into the room, disguised
in cape and cap (with a feather in it—how dashing!),
hip the place where women carry the weight of their children,
champ the one who won the contest fair and square,
and ice
and mice, as in blind,
and pie, as in a slice served warm, loaded with apples
picked from a tree not sprayed with pesticides (cide as in cancer as in cell as in prison
     as in lock and key),

we like to say easy as pie or pie in the sky (the slenderest of hopes),

impeach:

rhymes with speech (as in free)—or within reach, in assonance with possibility,
with just one more e we could have peace

sweet nectar of a word—

impeach.


Linda Ferguson is an award-winning writer of poetry, fiction and essays. Her poetry chapbook was published by Dancing Girl Press. She has a passion for teaching creative writing classes that inspire and support students of all ages.