A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House
Anastasia Vassos
My Necessary Conversation With the Universe
grâce à Mark Nepo
The red truck parked across the street
from Star Market is blazoned
on its side: How’s your meat?
I drive past the Trump store
that popped up all neon before the election
now empty of customers.
Has the end of the world arrived?
Every morning I have to remind
myself I’m glad to twist in the sheets—
my aching joints, morning headache
preferable to cancer, diabetes.
So. How’s my meat?
By meat I mean body and by body
I mean the jar that lights my soul intact.
Without a body, the spirit can’t breathe.
It’s 7am, two weeks before the days
get longer. The sun’s angle as it rises
this morning burns into Boston
torching the dark, making candles
of State Street Bank, South Station’s tower
the John Hancock’s 10,344 windows.
Something about morning’s luster
after hours of deep night
elevates us. Meanwhile the thrum
of the furnace starts up
pumping heat keeping time
to this earworm this floating
heartbeat. & speaking
of immovable objects the truck
hasn’t moved in weeks.
& the sad Trump Store
still stands, lights out.
Swag gathers dust. Give me
another window,
a distinct lens to peer
past convention. Not a mirror—
I’ve had enough of reflection
this morning. How’s your meat?
It’s an unanswerable question.
Anastasia Vassos is the author of the poetry collection Nike Adjusting Her Sandal (Nixes Mate Books, 2021) and the poetry chapbook Nostos (Kelsay Books, 2023). Her work has been widely anthologized online and in print journals. Her poems about the Greek-American diaspora have been translated into Greek. A reader for Lily Poetry Review, Vassos lives in Boston.
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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