The Second Coming

what rough beast is this? from reality
into politics he creeps. country splits.

alt-right & alt-left are not hot key
combinations: they are combatants.

as his power rises, land cries & dyes all
red: for patriots, for blood, for power,

anger; white: the cabinet of his color;
blue: the hue for you & everybody else,

screaming into the void, unsure of what
to do. the warning signs were there: the

acknowledgement of the dark web; pratfalls
of clowns terrorising suburbia; the cockiness

of candidature. & now, the greatest show on
earth beams into our smart phones via tweets

& #fakenews. what we believe skews view. ride
out this storm. hold on to the ones you love &

pray to whatever god that the codes he knows
won’t make our world erode – rocket man, do not

retaliate – that somebody, after, quells hate, brings
peace to nation once great, ends American carnage.

 

Scott-Patrick Mitchell is a West Australian poet and writer. He appears in Contemporary Australian Poetry (2016) and performed the 2015 show THE 24 HOUR PERFORMANCE POEM.

Laurie Lipton was born in New York and began drawing at the age of four. She was the first person to graduate from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pennsylvania with a Fine Arts Degree in Drawing (with honors). She has lived in Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, the UK and has recently moved to Los Angeles after 36 years abroad. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the USA.