Thursday, September 24, 2020

"PERHAPS YOU SHOULD ADOPT A MORE CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL ORIENTATION"

by Katherine West




In Memoriam for victims of the Rochester, New York shooting.


My doctor suggests after a complete physical 
He has failed to discover 
The source of my trouble 
Though I feel as if I will never recover 

He finds nothing in the blue pools of my eyes 
What could cause this endless weeping?
Blood pressure numbers don't lie
I will have a long time yet to live 

No medication for what ails me 
I am simply living inside-out 
He seems to imply, wearing my heart on my sleeve 
Where it has no business being, it has no clout 

In the streets, in the slums 
At the parties that are not fun 
Where students lie in pools of blood 
Too much love, he claims, not enough guns

Too much love, he claims, not enough guns 
Where students lie in pools of blood 
At the parties that are not fun 
In the streets, in the slums 

Where it has no business being, it has no clout 
He seems to imply, wearing my heart on my sleeve
I am simply living inside-out 
No medication for what ails me 

I will have a long time yet to live 
Blood pressure numbers don't lie 
What could cause this endless weeping?
He finds nothing in the blue pools of my eyes 

Though I feel as if I will never recover 
The source of my trouble 
He has failed to discover 
My doctor suggests after a complete physical 

"Perhaps you should adopt a more 
conservative political orientation."

Katherine West is the author of three collections of poetry and one novel: Scimitar Dreams, The Bone Train, Riddle, and Lion Tamer, respectively.  She has had poetry published in Bombay Gin, Lalitamba, Tanka Journal, Writing in a Woman’s Voice, and TheNewVerse.News who nominated her poem "And Then the Sky" for a Pushcart Prize in 2019.  She lives in the mountains outside of Silver City, New Mexico where she translates Mexican revolutionary poetry and creates custom, hand-made poetry chapbooks.