A Room of My Own: Melting Clock Haiku

Between Heaven and Hell, IV

first magical realist haiku

wall-to-wall mirrors

in his presidential suite ...

a melting clock ticks

FYI: "Magic realism or magical realism is a "style of literary fiction and art. It paints a realistic view of the world while also adding magical elements, often blurring the lines between fantasy and reality...excerpted from my "To the Lighthouse" post, Magical Realism in Times of Crises"

Added: Between Heaven and Hell, V

post-election blues ...

yet the stump jagged with some twigs

stretching upward

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXXIV: "armless Gazan"

smoky sunbeams 

through tattered olive trees ...

an armless Gazan

Added: Between Heaven and Hell, VI

ka-kis-to-cracy ...

my English teacher's voice

quivering

as U-S-A! chants get louder

from the crowd outside the school

FYI: The first part of the word comes from the Greek kákisto(s), meaning “worst.” So kakistocracy means “government by the worst.” The earliest known use of the word was in the 1600s by Paul Gosnold, a loyalist to King Charles I during the English Civil War.

And Daily Beast, Nov. 21: Jon Stewart Knows Why Trump Is Picking All the Worst People for His Cabinet

For Trump, it’s not a “downside” that his Cabinet picks “will not be sufficient stewards of these agencies,” Stewart said on the latest episode of his Weekly Show podcast. The point is that they are trying to “dismantle” the agencies themselves.

Added: Between Heaven and Hell, VII

in morning chill

a youth gazes at the billboard

dripping red:

your body, My choice painted

over my body, my choice

FYI: The New Yorker, Nov.14: A New Rallying Cry for the Irony-Poisoned Right: It took less than twenty-four hours after Trump’s reëlection for young men to take up a slogan that could define the coming era of gendered regression: “Your body, my choice.” 

PBS, Oct.31: Trump: I will 'protect the women' ... 'like it or not'

And The Indian Express, Nov.17: ‘Your Body, My Choice’ vs 4B movement: The radical movement is an answer to the clock turning back

The movement consists of four ‘nos’ — no dating, no sex, no marriage, and no childbearing. It is a radical approach, but perhaps one whose time has come given the tumultuous fight for bodily autonomy American women have been undergoing.

Added: Between Heaven and Hell, VIII

written in response to CNN News, Nov.18: "With swastika flags and bellowed slurs, neo-Nazi marchers strode through Columbus. Ohio" (J.D. Vance's home state)

Back in Business

It's Cleanup Time!

dripping red paint ...

I turn away when MAGA men

stab me with their eyes