Reconfigured
Be astonished by
A prism wave’s reach
The medicinal leech
A bulldog bat’s screech
But
Soften your lids
Restore your bite
Lower your brow
At the sound or the site
of
Words he tweets
Lies he tells
Proclamations he makes
Propaganda
he sells.
Be astonished by
a printer-made shoe
that spit becomes glue
feathers aren’t blue
But
Pull up your socks
Lengthen your spine
Oil your joints
Stand up, realign.
To be astonished by him
is a blow to the head
paralytic freeze
till Democracy’s
dead.
Instead
Ride Liberty’s back
her Freedom twin
broadcast words
sucked deep from within
flung from your jaw
to the dry fissured earth
reconstitute power
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.
​
– Linda Belans

