Charles Rammelkamp

I GAVE YOU DIAMONDS, YOU GAVE ME DISEASE

As the disease raced through his state
like a wildfire through dry brush,
a stream of gasoline whooshing up in flames,
the brave lieutenant governor of Texas,
a former owner of a failed
string of sports bars,
before he morphed into a conservative
radio talk show host
in the Rush Limbaugh style—
a guy who once painted himself blue
while wearing a big cowboy hat
to support the Houston Oilers—
before they moved to Nashville, became the Tennessee Titans—

(in other words, a real moral icon,
not a selfish privileged prick at all;
just the guy you want in charge
of life and death decisions)

he took a bold stand against sick people;
let the bleeding hearts care
about their shitty little lives.
Dan Patrick declared,
“There are some things more important than living.”


Charles reads "I Gave You Diamonds, You Gave Me Disease":



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Charles confesses: "The title of this poem is a line that appears on the album cover of The Rolling Stones’ 1972 album, Exile on Main Street, but is not actually a lyric in any of the songs. This is a metaphor for Lt. Governor Patrick’s empathy, which likewise doesn’t actually appear anywhere, though the disease is all too real."

CHARLES RAMMELKAMP is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore and Reviews Editor for The Adirondack Review. A chapbook of poems, Me and Sal Paradise, was published last year by FutureCycle Press. Two full-length collections are forthcoming in 2020, Catastroika, from Apprentice House, and Ugler Lee from Kelsay Books.