"Life and Pandemic" - Spring 2020

My Magician, America
Snapped her sluggish fingers,
and emptied:
the streets, grocery shelves, parks,
wallets,
tear ducts,
Dreams.
In a matter of minutes, and only a month or so too late.
Waved her wand and pulled dollar bills from a hat,
threw them right through the big business buildings,
then made them disappear again, just like that.
She’s making lines fall and people vanish,
with a deck stacked backwards, pulls the first card
Joker, second card, Joker
end of deck.
Her magic is all about big bravado and bullshit
but the red stains on her cloak hide
the finer details from the naive witness
who sees strength and stars in her sanguine movements,
her hands hover with a calm confidence through the pockets,
but
these hands
all the wrong directions.
are swinging in
Thus, the magicians fable becomes flounder as the stage falls like feathers
and the doves won’t leave their roost so the only thing flying from the hat is
fear. In one last act of grandeur, to reassume her place in the spotlight, she
grabs a saw and halves the state into two pieces, but she can’t mend the split.
I favor the nation like this.
Aidin Feenstra