by Alejandro Escud�
"When somebody says something about me, I am able to go 'bing, bing, bing' and I take care of it," T***p said. �You know, you have to keep people interested.� �CNN Politics, October 20, 2017
In the hours after President Donald T***p said on an Oct. 17 radio broadcast that he had contacted nearly every family that had lost a military servicemember this year, the White House was hustling to learn from the Pentagon the identities and contact information for those families, according to an internal Defense Department email.�Roll Call, October 20, 2017Escher-like, America block after block,
stairway after stairway, the dead ends,
the verbal multiplicity�the ugly prank
that is this presidency. But I keep my hand
over my heart when we say the Pledge
of Allegiance where I teach high school.
I didn�t say it when Bush was the president.
During W, I abstained, and looked away.
Something in the drug works. I believe
we�re going to be better after the parade
of clowns ends. Holy soldier! I�m thinking
of his body having not known what he
signed up for. How the soul is a wreck.
Those fatherless children. The lights
over the coffin. The echoing of the war.
Alejandro Escud� published his first full-length collection of poems My Earthbound Eye in September 2013. He holds a master�s degree in creative writing from UC Davis and teaches high school English. Originally from Argentina, Alejandro lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.