A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House
Marilyn Johnston
The Burner’s Still On
For months, in the pressure cooker
of the election, we finally emerged,
battered and beaten—a dicey grilling
by right-wing neighbors, left us
marinating for weeks about what
had happened, as we measured
and minced our words to pare down
where things went wrong. That first
day, deeply-fried, we’d scooped up
our passports, whipped ourselves
into a frenzy, and headed toward the
Canadian Border, sure that we’d be
folded into a long line of Americans,
straining to cross. But everything has
its season, and in the days to follow,
cooler heads percolated, our steps
trimmed, our questions reduced to:
How can we leave America?
So we turned around, even if it meant
sifting through the rubbish, all while
we strained and searched for reason,
even if we’re left simmering in our
own remorseful stew of regret. And
I’m at my kitchen window, now—
still scalded, chopped and grizzled.
Hungry for all they might try to feed
us that we’ll never swallow.
Marilyn Johnston is the author of the poetry collections Red Dust Rising (The Habit of Rainy Nights Press, 2004) and Before Igniting (Rippling Brook Press, 2020). She has received fellowships from Oregon Literary Arts and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund for Women, and she was the winner of the Donna J. Stone National Literary Award for Poetry, a Robert Penn Warren writing competition prize, and the Salmon Creek Flash Fiction Contest. Also a filmmaker, Johnston teaches creative writing in the Oregon Artists in the Schools Program, working primarily with incarcerated youth.
Indolent Books and editor Michael Broder are back with another poem-a-day series as a creative response to the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House. The plan is to continue for all 1460 days of the 47th American presidency.
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