A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House
Barbara Lipp
It’s a Feature Not a Bug
What’s become of the Land of the Free?
Well, it was never for all, there was no guarantee.
It’s only for people who look more like me.
Others were hung from the branch of a tree.
What’s become of the home of the brave?
The founding fathers turn in their graves.
They had a good plan but they also had slaves.
Their plan’s now in tatters, not much left to save.
It’s quite a contemptuous version of wisdom
To hand AI chatbots the keys to the kingdom.
Oligarchs, billionaires, friends and relations
Have taken the reigns of our floundering nation.
Malevolent pride consumes all in its path
The slightest of slights will unleash its wrath.
It cares about nothing except retribution,
And laughs in the face of our land’s Constitution.
Fearing tyranny’s scorching hot blast,
Fearing how long this bad dream may last,
Fearing tomorrow and mourning the past,
Fascism’s stench has arrived much too fast.
The voters who chose this must now own their choice.
The people have spoken, with rancorous voice.
A creeping malignancy’s now in full swing.
My dear, defunct country, of thee I sing.
Barbara Lipp is the author of the books Ask Marcel: Sage Advice from a Wise Cat (2025) and Pandemica: A Souvenir of a Most Dreadful Year (2022). Alongside her day job as a graphic designer, Lipp appeared as a performance artist in New York City clubs, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and on Late Night with David Letterman. Her collaborative videos have been shown in art museums worldwide. Now retired, she lives and writes in Peekskill, NY.
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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