April 20: Poem in the Shape of the Poet Beating Henry Kissinger to Death with Their Bare Hands

[Martha]

Poem in the Shape of the Poet Beating Henry Kissinger to Death with Their Bare Hands

Felix Lecocq

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Today's poem is shared as an image with a transcription of the poem included as alt text. If you're unable to see it, you can also find it transcribed at the bottom of the email.

US-funded projects addressing the ongoing impact of Agent Orange in Viet Nam (toxin cleanup, support for those with congenital disorders like the poet's) were disrupted by the abrupt dismantling of US foreign aid programming this year. Along with many others.

Today in:
2024: blessing the boats, Lucille Clifton
2023: Wound is the Origin of Wonder, Maya C. Popa
2022: When the Fox Comes to the City, Patricia Fargnoli
2021: aubade for the whole hood, Nate Marshall
2020: Keeping Things Whole, Mark Strand
2019: New Year’s Day, Kim Addonizio
2018: I Know You Think I’ve Forgotten, Jane Hirshfield
2017: The Writer, Richard Wilbur
2016: from Seven Skins, Adrienne Rich
2015: I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life, Mary Oliver
2014: In the Park, Maxine Kumin
2013: To A Sad Daughter, Michael Ondaatje
2012: My Dead Friends, Marie Howe
2011: Staying After, Linda Gregg
2010: Dream Song 14, John Berryman
2009: What We Kept, Megan Alpert
2008: Please Take Back the Sparrows, Suzanne Buffam
2007: It Happens Like This, James Tate
2006: Tantalus in May, Reginald Shepherd
2005: September Song, Geoffrey Hill

+ Today's poem: Poem in the Shape of the Poet Beating Henry Kissinger to Death with Their Bare Hands, Felix Lecocq

Image transcription: Text is in the shape of a standing person raising a fist in order to punch someone who is lying on the ground holding up their hands in defense. It reads:

hooking up with strange men on edibles is fucking awesome until you’re lying in his bed afterward and you can’t shut up about how much you want to hit henry kissinger over and over until he stops breathing. like, did you know that agent orange is apparently 100,000 times more potent than thalidomide at causing birth defects and to this day vietnamese infants have an elevated incidence of congenital disorders, including heart abnormalities, and like you’re not saying that henry kissinger is the reason you were born with a broken heart but wouldn’t it be so fucked up if he was and wouldn’t you then have every right to press your thumbs into his windpipe until he chokes to death and your hookup is like yeah you’re right that would be fucked up i’m sorry but what did you want to get i’m placing the order now and you say two spicy potato soft tacos please and you let him pay for it because he’s white and you’re too stoned to navigate venmo right now and it’s only like $2 but by the time the food arrives you’ve fallen asleep anyway, hand over your heart monitor, dreaming of kissinger’s blood dribbling out his mouth like hot sauce