Robert Cooperman

FOUR MORE YEARS

That 1972 Election Night,
joints went around, to keep us
from thinking about Nixon,
that crook hell-bent on turning
the Constitution into toilet paper.

Still, we had to laugh when Ray
opened an umbrella and quipped,

"I'm sitting under the canopy
of American Democracy."
Another joint, more giggles;
with weed, we could at least laugh
while Nixon bludgeoned the republic.

Now, all the pot in Colorado
can’t raise even a slight smile,
with what the Orange Nightmare
is doing: threats of border walls,
racist rallies calling for prison
for anyone who disagrees with him;
soon, goose stepping millions
thrusting arms in that salute,
while he laughs and applauds:

power an even more potent high
than a joint, or ten, of primo weed.


Gerald So reads "Four More Years":



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Bob confesses: "A bunch of us were listening to the '72 elections, depressed over Nixon's landslide. One friend opened an umbrella and declared ironically he was sitting under the umbrella of American democracy. We laughed, but now, with Trump, the times seem too dire for gags, maybe even for poems. I hope not."


ROBERT COOPERMAN is the author of many collections. His latest chapbook is the just-published Saved by the Dead (yes, the Grateful Dead). Soon to be released is the full-length collection Their Wars (Kelsay Books), That Summer (Main Street Rag) and The Devil Who Raised Me (Lithic Press).