Chen-ou Liu's Translation Project: First English-Chinese Haiku and Tanka Blog

Friday, January 8, 2021

Just Another Day in the Land of the Free

From inflammatory words come violent actions -- on the steps of the Reichstag and now in the Capitol.

morning chill
a river of floating
MAGA hats

noonday sun
Do the right thing, a twist
to the President's mouth

a smiling white man
waves the Confederate flag
Capitol hallway 

her bloody handprint
on Nothing Can Stop Us
gathering dusk


Added: One Hundred Seventieth Entry

barefaced mob
chanting, U-S-A! U-S-A! ...
politicians
cower under their desks
donning gas masks

FYI: "Nothing can stop us": Slain Trump supporter tweeted conspiracy theories and her devotion to Trump in days before her death. Business Insider, Jan. 7 And America's Shame: Trumpism Distilled to Its Purest Form, A Commentary by Marc Pitzke, Spiegel International, Jan. 7:

These are scenes known from other countries – from "failed states" and repressive regimes. But not from the United States, which has for so long vaunted itself as the cradle of Western democracy and its foremost defender.

This is Trumpism, distilled to its purest form.

"He's now president for life," Trump said of Chinese President Xi Jinping. "Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday." ...

"We will never give up, we will never concede," he crowed. "You'll never take back our country with weakness! You have to show strength!"