I will take a few deep breaths
and look at the mirror, the ceiling.
I will look outside the window
at the stars. There are only
two days to go before the vote.
Millions have already mailed
in ballots. I will look again
at the article, then endorsement
of the Republican, Rogers,
by a Democrat, Stevens,
who believes that the Republican
must win because of his fierce
support for Israel and a promise
that he will invest in black-owned
businesses, even if his victory
means one more block
in the Republican wall,
seeking to hold on to the Senate,
deny the chance to judge
the thieves helicoptering currently
out of the former Rose Garden.
Meanwhile, can one really
tell the color of the owner
of business X or Y? Aren’t
there colorless banks
ready to offer development
loans to the CEOs? I am still
keeping calm. To each his own,
including the right to betray
your voters and endorse
the AIPAC ticket. Good
riddance I say, Ms Stevens.
Call yourself contradiction,
maverick, fool.
I will not be distracted,
nor will the many
on your team who
have now resigned.
In two days the defender
in whom we can trust
will make you a part
of the modern yet
ancient curse, where money
and ideology have trumped
you stone deaf, stone blind.
Indran Amirthanayagam received Sri Lanka's State Literary Award for White Space Sonnets. He won the Paterson Poetry Prize for The Elephants of Reckoning. His Lettre aux residents du monde is forthcoming from L'Harmattan. Amirthanayagam edits Beltway Poetry, publishes at Beltway Editions. He writes indranmx.substack.com .