Irene Cooper
but who now will deliver the weather report
david lynch said it’s a great time to be
alive if you love the theatre of the absurd
for seven straight years at two thirty pm
he ordered a cup a coffee
and a chocolate shake at bob’s big boy
whose three dimensional logo sported
a similar bouffant to lynch’s own
in an interview on a pbs talk show
with a disgraced host lynch talked
about routine, how a regular dinner
of broccoli and chicken gave his imagination
a foundation to create
i read a story in which lynch met a kid
on his girlfriend’s front lawn
whose father was a professional artist
and that was that, once he understood
that one could choose, he never looked back
today I imagined that i could live
a life without undue attention to capitalism
i’d just collect my check, pay my taxes
and that would be that
i’d live an unironic life, loving the bluebird
and the pie, a cup of coffee and a cigarette
this being a free country
this being a free country
Irene Cooper wrote the feminist noir novel Found; Committal, poet-friendly spy-fy about family; spare change:poems, finalist for the 2022 Stafford/Hall award; and even my dreams are over the constant state of anxiety: poems. Writings appear in Beloit Poetry, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, Witness, Bear Review, and elsewhere. Irene works and lives with her people and Roxy in the middle of Oregon.
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 presidential administration. The plan is to continue for all 1460 days of the 47th American presidency.