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PORTSIDE CULTURE

NAMELESS IN HELL  
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Suzanne Lummis

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_ Poet Suzanne Lummis imagines the inconveniences our Fearless Leader
might experience in a less comfortable place than Mar-a-Lago. _

, Ground

 

There's only one TV, an old Philcothe size of furniture, circa
nineteen fifty-six,that's why it's hell.

Blueberries roll over the fields, the terracedhills, and plumeria--the
kind they call icedlavender, the kind called cotton candy--

and Cypress lean along the horizon as ifscripted by the wind. Beyond
the mistshe glimpses majestic shapes resembling

purple mountains, though he can't recallwhere he heard that phrase,
majesties....?Where's all the real estate?

Where is his golden name? Horrorlands on him like the weight of allhis
lies, each one half an ounce (do

the math)--he can't remember his name.And he's hungry!Vines burst with
offerings, and trees

drop every dreamed-of deepand ripened fruit. In such colors!And this
time not one is forbidden.

Where are his hamburgers and fries,his steak? His red meats?! I'm in
hell,he cries, and for once he's not lying.

He tries to settle his girth in the narrowplastic armchair perched
near the TV.On the small screen housewives in high

necked collars praise the heaven of Sunbeamelectric fry pans, cake mix
and Nestle Quik.The programming's stuck forever

in the age when American was Great.

And now the stations start shutting downfor the night. Now they're
gone. And

now the small screen fillswith snow. Then fills with flame.

_Suzanne Lummis' poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares &
The Hudson Review. Her latest collection is Crime Wave. She has edited
various anthologies, including Stand Up Poetry and Wide Awake: Poets
of Los Angeles and Beyond. She is also the recipient of George Drury
Smith Outstanding Achievement in Poetry._

* Trump
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INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

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