MAGA MORNING. Here are four poems, sharing my first thoughts and struggles with this morning’s news. How are you coping with the return to power of the Donald and his backers?  See also “Looking Forward” below. – Roger Straw

MORNING AFTER (6:29 AM)

I don’t want to know.
Don’t tell me.
Dread in the morning.
I can’t sleep.

All indications we have arrived at a Fascist era,
The election all but called,
I turn off the tv.
I can’t bear to look.

Don’t tell me.
I don’t want to know.

MORE TRUMP (7:19 AM)

Sympathy doesn’t heal
Encouragement isn’t enough
How will we live in a Fascist state?

ON THE NEWS (7:32 AM)

On the news of Trump’s return
My sister in Canada sent a single word, Sad.
I replied,
Devastating.
Don’t know what to do.
Afraid.
I woke up uninformed but suspicious of the outcome
We couldn’t bear to stay awake for the tv analyses
The endless parsing of Lackawanna County
And comparisons of turnout and margins in years past
We shut off the tv and went to bed.
To bed not pretending, just not ready to deal
To bed
Maybe that’s the only place of security
In the face of impending doom.

On the news of Trump’s return
And even more so,
On the news of our nation’s willing descent into the pit of Fascism
Of my neighbor’s Take Us Back flag, victorious,
Of the loss of the all-important US Senate,
Of the marginal swing of the US House,
Of 4 more years of Presidential pouting
And posturing
And attack
And race baiting
And outright racism and misogyny and homophobia
Of losses to come, losses without number
Of dark days…
On such news, it’s hard to summon courage
To bed is not secure, to bed where dreams will tell the truth
Truth spoken, not to power, but to the darkness

Into the void we go.
The swirl, the black hole.
Tell me there’s more.

WAKE-UP CALL (8:08 AM)

Ok, so life goes on.

On the morning after we learned the truth,
The truth that we are still and again the United States of White Men,
The truth that even the threat of dictatorial power and criminality
Can’t override the fundamental fear of gender parity,
Can’t overcome the reality of racism,
On this morning after,
After our shock,
After our disbelief,
After all the twists and turns of the five stages of grief,
Life goes on.

So where does life go?
When life goes on in a turned-back America,
When life continues under fascist power,
When life plows ahead regardless…
Where is our Dr. King?
Where is our Susan B. Anthony?
Who will wake the nation?
Who will organize on campuses
And call the People to demonstrate
A vision of freedom and goodness and light?

A wake-up call
On the morning of our nation’s backslide
On the morning of the reaffirmation of sexism and white supremacy
On November 6, 2024
A wake-up call.
Who will wake us up, America?

Looking forward…

• There is hope — 10 ways to be prepared and grounded for another Trump presidency (Waging Non-Violence)
• What will you do if Trump wins? (Choose Democracy)