A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House
Suzanne Osborne
Lullaby in a Time of Sorrow
Nov. 6, 2024
The sun came up anyway
in a sky blue as 9/11.
I took a walk anyway
scuffing through leaves dead
as all my hopes.
There, there, now, now.
Don’t mope. Tomorrow
you’ll find a way to live
in this alien world
but for now feed the cat
meowing round your feet.
Musk, Hegseth, Kennedy.
There, there, now, now.
Just keep busy. Do
the crossword, do Wordle
and Spelling Bee—see?
you’re a genius, now isn’t that nice?
Greenland, Panama.
There, there, now, now.
They won’t hand over the canal.
A fairy-tale ogre’s threats, just set
them to music and sing yourself
to sleep. Tomorrow the sun will rise
as it always has, you’ll feed the cat
as you always do, take a walk as you always
do, watch the world change as it always
does, the sun will set again as it always
has and will till time runs down and all
our little hopes and fears are done.
There, there. Now, now.
Suzanne Osborne‘s poems have appeared in journals including What Rough Beast, A River Sings, Jonah Magazine, Neologism Poetry Journal, and New Plains Review, among others. After an early career in theater, a stint in academia, and too many years as a legal secretary, she now lives in Forest Hills, NY, and writes poetry.
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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