SPRING (RUDE) AWAKENING

or HANDS OFF MY SHOWERHEAD

President Trump, who has waged a long-running battle against low water pressure, signed an executive order that redefined a common bathroom fixture. —The New York Times, April 10, 2025

by Ann Weil

after Louise Glück’s “October (section I)”
 

Is it Spring again, is it green again,
aren’t we a field of four-leaf clover,
aren’t we coming up posies, 
 
weren't we promised,
aren’t we deserving,
aren’t we special, 
 
wasn’t he strong,
tougher than bullets,
 
didn’t he vow a phoenix nation,
to clean the shop
of waste and scum,
isn’t he bold, isn’t he clever, not telling
the half of his plans 
for ’25—
 
I remember our weakness, our shameful
kindness, our brotherly love, our lead-by-example,
didn’t those values drag us down,
drown us in our Gulf of America,
 
I can’t remember 
which government bloat 
I’m supposed to hate more—
park rangers or cancer researchers,
 
I no longer care
about clean air and healthcare, 
but, man, those egg prices
keep me up at night—
 
who needs allies, free-trade, or 401Ks,
who needs hurricane warnings
or Judy Blume books, 
 
down with DEI, up with ICE,
when was I young there were no illegals, 
no signs in Spanish, my grandparents spoke
only English, swept their Yiddish 
under the rug,
 
when did the taco trucks takeover
and bubble-tea shops spread like a rash,
when did a skirt 
give a guy a free pass
to the ladies room—
a scourge more worrisome 
than measly measles,
 
I blame the Fathers’ faulty foundation—
the Constitution’s lunatic creed,
 
didn’t we thrive without due process, 
without free-speech and fair elections,
 
wasn’t it great
when we were subjects
subject to
the whims of a king,
 
didn’t so-called progress
lead us to this towering cliff,
 
aren’t we jumping, won’t we bounce,
bounce back better like he said,
 
yes, we’re jumping,
isn’t it Spring?  
Yes, it’s Spring, 2025.

Ann Weil is the author of Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman (Yellow Arrow Publishing, 2023) and Blue Dog Road Trip (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 2024). Her poetry appears or is forthcoming in Best New Poets 2024, Pedestal Magazine, RHINO, Chestnut Review, DMQ Review, Maudlin House, 3Elements Review, and elsewhere. A four-time Pushcart nominee, Weil lives with her husband in Ann Arbor, MI, and Key West, FL.

STOP THE CAR!

by Craig Cowden

“Stop the car… We want dramatic change. We don't get to go to Disneyland until we figure this out.” — Senator John Curtis on Face the Nation, February 23, 2025

Climbing out our 60s wood-panel station wagon
somewhere in the wilderness of eastern Oregon,
we scurry behind Mom as Dad rages about
our whining, his money, the heat, the route.

Dad yanks the jack out of the back and liberates
the car of regulated seatbelts, warning lights,
“dem wasteful mandates,” while mumbling “CAFE”
to the catalytic converter — what is that anyway?

Out goes the spare tire unmaintained and flat.
Power steering? “When you’re a man, who needs that?”
Jettisoned is the rear facing seat where we escape,
a privilege we apparently no longer rate.

Tossed are my anime, smashed is brother’s tablet,
to the ditch goes sister’s faded rainbow jacket
followed soon by Mom’s remote workplace laptop
while the bumper with peace stickers lies on the blacktop.

Turning to his scions now in shock by the road,
he demands that we just stop, but we aren’t told
what to change in our dysfunctional family
or how to reboot the ruined car and make it to Disney.

Author’s note: On CBS’s Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on February 23, 2025, Senator John Curtis, Republican of Utah, repeats the metaphor of “stopping the car” to confront the disruptive kids 11 times in response to multiple oversight questions in this 8 minute interview. This poem imagines what transitions might occur during this “stop the car moment.” Margaret Brennan fails to ask, and Senator Curtis doesn’t offer, how the car gets rebooted — maybe jumper cables, heart defibrillator, Ctrl+Alt+Del?

Craig Cowden is a retired director of program management from Oracle Corporation.  With his engineering background, he thinks it quite logical that the same skills that architect efficient, elegant software can also inspire measured, meaningful verse. He relishes writing cynical poems from alternative perspectives covering current events and life in general.   Craig's poems have appeared in Lighten Up Online, Birdy Magazine, and Lighthouse Writers Workshop Anthology Collections of Poetry and Short Fiction.

MAGA SAGA... OR PROJECT 2025 CONTRIVED

by Gilbert Allen

Cartoon by Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune, UT

Fear queers.

Ban trans.

Hire liars.

Bring on Elon!

Pardon felons.

ICE raids

housemaids

nurse aides.

Prez sez

"I buy

Gaza Plaza!

Bombshell hotel!

Max tax

Canuck crooks!

Vex Mex!

They pay

duty booty!

Hate great!

True Blue?
Screw you.

Gilbert Allen has tried to live True Blue in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, since 1977. For more information about him and his work, check out the interview here.