A poem a day in April from Rutgers English PhD students and friends.

Friday, April 18, 2014

I Hate the Country I Rule


I hate the country
I rule
Fat fingers reaching for colo(u)rful bills
Exploding out of oil barrels
Refined by boys from Ontario
Who now live in Alberta.

I hate you dyke march bitches
With your bare breasts and
Your bicycles.

I hate voting and elections.
I hate the opposition and erections.
The jury’s out on those ice caps—
Are they melting?
Nah, they’re just teasing.
I hate evolution
And science
And libraries.
I hate the country
I rule.

Quebec: “boo hoo!”
Natives: “boo hoo!”
Artists: “boo hoo!”
Grow up and double peck
Each cheek
Of the Queen
Of the Commonwealth
And maybe one day
You’ll get 
Your very own
Hockey jersey!

Secretly, I miss you, Jack.
Not a day goes by that I don’t think of your mustache,
Your cane,
Your socialism.
In these moments,
Not even Laureen can comfort me.
I go inside myself
And I cry for those burned books,
That trade deal with China,
Old people,
All the unemployed mail carriers.
All my errors; all we’ve lost.

4 comments:

  1. This is ferocious and hilarious and also there is something unexpectedly heartbreaking about the lines, "In these moments, / not even Lauren can comfort me" (!)

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  2. I love this too. And I like to pretend I am the "Laureen" who can comfort you ;)

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  3. Yeah, those Laureens/Lauras--we always imagine a world of pathos and misguided tenderness inside those marriages. I love "Secretly I miss you, Jack"--an old romance!!

    I want to send this to my mother-in-law but I may not have the guts.

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