by Susan Terris
THE ONLY WAY TO WRITE ABOUT THIS IS TO USE ALL
CAPS FOR THE RAGE I FEEL ABOUT HAVING A GOVERNMENT
FILLED WITH INLAWS. EX-LOBBYISTS, STOOGES AND A PRESIDENT
WHO IS UNQUALIFIED FOR THE JOB. IT’S THE WORST OF
THE WORST. My husband, who has left this world, used
to say what we needed as a president was not
a politician but a businessman. I may have to dig under
the birch tree to find his ashes and try to tell them
just how wrong he was.
Susan Terris’ recent books are Familiar Tense (Marsh Hawk) 2019; Take Two: Film Studies (Omnidawn) 2017, Memos (Omnidawn) 2015; and Ghost of Yesterday: New & Selected Poems (Marsh Hawk) 2012. She's the author of 7 books of poetry, 17 chapbooks, 3 artist's books, and one play. Journals include The Southern Review, Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, and Ploughshares. A poem of hers appeared in Pushcart Prize XXXI. A poem from Memos was in Best American Poetry 2015. Her newest chapbook is Dream Fragments, which won the 2019 Swan Scythe Press Award. Ms. Terris is editor emerita of Spillway Magazine and a poetry editor at Pedestal.