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Showing posts with label Purell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Purell. Show all posts

Sunday, August 02, 2020

THE AMERICAN GOSPEL (2020 EDITION)

by Avalon Felice Lee





In the beginning…
January judgment 
Red hat, white lies
"The flu is worse!" he scorns
as his gavel cudgels China, the blue-faced, the blue-lunged
The pen of law
holds the ink for healthcare blueprints. 
The dough in his fist
for swab tests; for the people. 
              
February denial
Nailed wrists, or tied hands?
Our savior, or an excuse?
Americans,
             repent!
                          Beware of
                                       fake news
                                                    sham gold
                                                                 idols— 
Nothing to worry about! Nothing at all!
Come to the altar, worship whoever’s crowned
The winged choir guard the American garden
from Wuhan fiends
And so, nib unscathed
Pockets heavy

The Gospel
Good thing he cares for his shares 
The yeast for His bread
unrisen, decayed
So, He Marches forward
And trumpets that “the numbers are good” as is
apparently
contrarily

But April showers make faith dour.
Just in case, behind Jericho bricks
He breaks bread
for swab tests; for His people
crumbs

Oh, you sinner
Cast doubt from your mind!
May you rejoice!
The Savior saves His people!
Good thing he cares for his shares.

Revelation
Though idols dine in violet silkone day
the synthetic dye will blanch
Dress in your Sunday best, filter masks
Earth will soon steal the recipe for
manna
Sacrifice pedestrian beer
for communion wine, Purell
June bugs, heathens, see the sunup
The world ends not with a virus!
(But by the folly of man.)


Avalon Felice Lee is an Asian-American Californian. She has been writing poetry and prose since the age of eleven. Her works have been published in The Heritage Review, Kalopsia Literary Journal, and elsewhere.

Wednesday, February 05, 2020

PURELL DISPENSER

by Judith Terzi





The camera zooms in on Healthy Hands
in a Senate hallway. As they pile into
the chamber, do Senators sanitize? Not all.
Some don't wish to purify, break away
from the prize of dirty manos. The Chief
Justice walks briskly down this ornate
road. We don't know if his hands are
sterilized. We don't see him sanitize––
no Purell odor as he enters the chamber.
All we know is that he wants his hands
tied as he listens blankly to two sides,
perhaps counting backwards counter
clockwise. Try reading his face, his eyes.
Does he recognize the twists & turns
of truth, the spoof of lawyers? The Justice
never shows surprise when they
dramatize, aggrandize their battle cries.

Try & visualize justice biting into a burger
& freedom fries & à la mode apple pies,
as long black robes are shed for good
along with red, white & blue striped ties.


Author of Museum of Rearranged Objects (Kelsay Books, 2018) as well as of five chapbooks, Judith Terzi's poetry appears widely in literary journals and anthologies, has received nominations for a Pushcart and Best of the Net and Web, and has been read on Radio 3 of the BBC. A former educator, she taught high school French for many years as well as English at California State University, Los Angeles, and in Algiers, Algeria.