Astonishment Reconfigured
Linda Belans 5-2-17
Be astonished by
a returning moon
a cereus bloom
the wail of a loon
Drop your jaw wide
at a prism wave’s reach
the medicinal leech
a bulldog bat’s screech
But
Soften your lids
Restore your bite
Lower your brows
At the sound or the site
of
Words he tweets
Lies he tells
Proclamations he makes
Propaganda
he sells
Be nonplussed
by a printer-made shoe
that spit becomes glue
feathers aren’t blue
But
Pull up your socks
Lengthen your spine
Oil your joints
Reconfigure the trine
To be astonished by him
is a blow to the head
paralytic freeze
till democracy’s
dead
Resist
temptation to refute
Instead
Ride liberty’s back
mouth agape at the wind
broadcasting words
sucked deep from within
flung from your jaw
to the dry fissured earth
reconstitute freedom
for all that you’re worth
Be angry
Incensed
Be ready to fight
From twilight’s last gleam
Through dawn’s refracted light
But do not
be astonished
by him.