Karen Hildebrand
Steve Bannon Visits the White House
If bored, the queen weaves flowers from her garden,
forsythia folded under trompe-l’oeil. When engaged,
she becomes an empty vase: Talk to me about
the shaggy chest of a ten-point buck, she says,
as a musky scent fills the room. She hangs her crown
on a hook at the end of a work day, says to the king,
How about a White Russian before dinner?
There’s a ladder dangling from the ceiling, perhaps
to bridge the gaps in their conversation. I draw
the jack of hearts every hand that’s dealt, I inform
the king, who hasn’t offered me cake. I leave
my antlers at the back door and blow out candles
as I pass, gray clouds gather above the herd,
white spots glowing on their winter coats.
Karen Hildebrand‘s work has appeared in many journals, including Poet Lore, Fourteen Hills, Meridian, Blue Mesa Review, The Journal, G. W. Review and WomenArts Quarterly. Her poems have also appeared in anthologies published by great weather for MEDIA and A Gathering of the Tribes. Her poems were adapted for a play, The Old In and Out, produced by Three Rooms Press.
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