by Jon Wesick
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| Claytoonz |
In Latin, stare decisis means, “deice the stars.” The relevant case law is Andromeda vs. GRXL when prosecutors accused three Tralfamadorans of selling defective window-washer fluid at an intergalactic truck stop. The phrase means keeping your cool during a barrage of leading questions and racist dog whistles that would make an ordinary person hot enough to fuse hydrogen into helium.
I used to give dog whistles the benefit of the doubt. Just because they didn’t resonate with me that didn’t mean they were racist. Now, their bigotry isn’t just for some toy poodle with a Hitler mustache. Even I can hear it. When shopping at a pet store, they ought to tell you if a dog whistle is racist. That’s just truth in advertising.
Jon Wesick is a regional editor of the San Diego Poetry Annual. He’s published hundreds of poems and stories in journals such as the Atlanta Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, Metal Scratches, The New Verse News, Pearl, Slipstream, Space and Time, Tales of the Talisman, and Zahir. Jon is the author of the poetry collections Words of Power, Dances of Freedom and A Foreigner Wherever I Go as well as several novels and short story collections. His most recent novel is The Prague Deception.