(With apologies to Allen Ginsberg) (and America)
Hold back the edges of your gowns, Ladies, we are going through hell.
- William Carlos Williams, in the introduction to the original Howl, 1956)
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I saw the worst candidate of any generation elected by a minority, lying shouting tweeting,
dragging our poor nation into the swampiest of backlashes with a hostile takeover of democracy,
frustrated voters besieged by simplistic slogans inflated fears and false assertions somehow becoming convinced that a con man could Make America Something it never was, even though he is a serial bankrupting deplorable;
who began his political career with an undeniably crazed racist accusation that our first black president was a Kenyan and kept that up for years until denying he ever did so,
who said Obamacare is a "catastrophe" even though he clearly knows not what it is or who it helps nor what to replace it with,
who has tax and healthcare and other proposals that will make the rich much richer while throwing crumbs to middle class and poorer citizens while cutting their services,
who called climate change a "Chinese hoax" thereby baffling not only scientists but even the Chinese themselves,
who vowed to get rid of the EPA even though it protects not only the environment but the health and future of all,
who said those who get or give or favor abortion should be punished and defunded even though Planned Parenthood prevents more unwanted pregnancies than any so-called "pro-life" activism ever has or will,
who mocked a disabled journalist who questioned him and then said he didn't though no objective viewer would buy that if they see the actual video,
who denigrated POWs and war heroes saying they should not have been captured or killed while being a draft-dodger and calling his avoidance of sexually-transmitted diseases his own personal wartime service and sacrifice,
who towed the line of the venal profiteering NRA and even suggested that "second amendment people" might be useful for getting rid of his opponents,
who gleefully boasted on tape of grabbing and groping women's genitals and getting away with it because he was famous,
who was accused and/or sued by dozens of women who said he had assaulted insulted denigrated them, having said "Women - you have to treat them like s__t",
who started a fake university named after himself to defraud hopeful students, eventually paying out $25 million to avoid having to testify about it,
who seems to have such shadowy connections to the Russians that old Joe McCarthy must be fulminating in his hellish grave but now toadying Republicans just say Oh so what, fake news,
who baited and insulted everybody but white males and fomented a rash of violent bigoted hateful events nationwide but ignored that until pressed and even then would only offhandedly say "stop it", period,
who called himself a Christian when pressed on that but knew nothing of the Bible and would seem to have regularly violated virtually every teaching of Jesus,
who would not release his tax returns like all other candidates do as there are likely many things he would not want decent people to see therein, including conflicts of interest that could disqualify him, evidence of paying no taxes, etc, but said he'd so so after the election and then, once elected, said Nope, sorry, joke's on you, suckers,
who publicly mocked the weight gain of one of his beauty pageant winners saying she was no longer pretty enough for him,
who said his own daughter had a "very nice figure" and if she were not his daughter he might be "dating" her,
who stiffed many of the contractors and workers who worked on his many projects using pure financial power to beat them down,
who promised to "build a wall" to keep out Mexicans he called rapists terrorists criminals who in fact had already been leaving in numbers greater than they were coming and commit crimes less than legal residents and pay more taxes than he does,
who said he'd make Mexico pay for said futile wall but Mexico said "nope" so he decided to make Americans pay for it,
who said he'd ban all Muslims from becoming Americans even though a tiny minority of them are any threat,
who maintained that torture “works” even though it doesn’t, actually backfires, and is deemed immoral by virtually every other nation,
who created a fake charity under his name but spent the money only on things like a $20,000 portrait of himself and his own legal fees,
who insisted the African-American youth who were falsely accused of murdering a woman in Central Park were guilty even after proven innocent,
who said a Latino judge was not qualified because he was Latino, which even Republicans called a textbook example of racism,
who hinted that nuclear weapons might be a usable option if he said so making even our allies overseas shudder,
who didn't even write his own most-sold book but the writer who did so came to see him as a true sociopath,
who inherited millions yet still declared bankruptcy over and over while under-performing the market throughout his career and living on debt,
who began purges and gags on expert governmental scientists who might not toe the line of himself and his profiteering, evidence-free cronies,
who was so professionally unqualified and personally reprehensible that virtually every newspaper and journal and professional group in the nation opposed him, other than the KKK and National Enquirer,
who provoked even thinking experienced educated conservatives to say things like "he is a creature of the swamp… Impeachment must be on the table… I am more frightened now for our country than I've ever been.." etc,
who vowed to "drain the swamp" of political corruption but once elected by less than a quarter of those who could vote and by 3 million less than who did vote began assembling a cast of the richest most ethically-challenged figures ever to crawl out of swamps towards Washington, who just happened to have donated to him,
who said he knew more than any number of generals and intelligence veterans despite having no relevant experience at all,
who said the free press should be shut down, thereby igniting a run on copies of George Orwell's 1984,
who lied so often and so blatantly that his minions were forced to come up with a new euphemism for bullshit, "alternative facts,"
who has been the money-grubbing front man for a cynical profiteering backlash against all the idealistic movements of the last couple of generations - civil rights, feminism, environmentalism, healthcare for all, peace, you name it, as well as the spiritual and musical messages that have brought hope and progress to so many for over half and century;
who is judged by so many to be so ethically, temperamentally, and professionally unqualified that the biggest protests in American history ignited the day after his tacky inauguration,
who has many supporters who will sooner or later realize he is still a professional con man and fooled them but who should not be shamed but now rise against him,
who - Oh, this could go on and on and on but soon it becomes pointless and despairing unless enough true patriots see it in themselves,
to recreate the resistance needed from the streets to the courthouses and halls of government and minds and hearts of those who believe in true human progress and values of compassion equity peace civil rights feminism environmentalism and just plain human progress towards the arc of justice,
with the American Dream still intact yet not limited by riches color creed;
America you have always had some big bad "issues" but I want to believe in you anyway.
America there are more of us than there are of them.
America it turns out there is indeed a "moral majority" and now it resides most everywhere but in the White House.
America Washington Lincoln Roosevelt Kennedy are aghast and depending upon us from beyond.
America let us put true democracy back on top where it belongs.
America you are better than this,
America please prove that is true.
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FOOTNOTE TO INAUGURHOWL
LOCKER ROOM TALK by Donald Trump, (age 59, newlywed)
I did try and f__k her. She was married. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there.
And she was married.
Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.
I’ve gotta use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them.
It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.
And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything…
Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.
Women, you have to treat them like s__t.
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Image by Adrian Neenan via twitter