I refused to watch the State of the Union,
unwilling to give two hours of my life
to so much bloviation and lies. Usually
I think it’s wise to know my enemy but
I know this one too well. Instead
I called a friend, spent half an hour
catching up and laughing, then read and
watched an hour of Seaside Hotel,
Season Six, 1938, Danish refuge with
its mix of guests and servants,
persistence of decorum and dignity
as, still out of focus, fascism draws near.
Penelope Moffet is a poet and nonfiction writer based in Los Angeles. She is the author of the chapbooks Cauldron of Hisses (Arroyo Seco Press, 2022), It Isn’t That They Mean to Kill You (Arroyo Seco Press, 2018) and Keeping Still (Dorland Mountain Arts, 1995). Her poems appear in many journals, including Calyx, Eclectica, ONE ART and Vox Populi. A full-length collection of her poetry will be published by Sheila-Na-Gig Editions this Fall.