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

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Whisky Truth and Manly Lie

Ninety-Third Entry, Coronavirus Poetry Diary

this is America
not Communist China
an unmasked man
yells and pulls a gun
on a store manager

it's patriotic
to wear a face mask now
bathed in the spotlight
the President claims
with a twist to his mouth


Added: Ninety-Fourth Entry, a sequel to the ninety-third entry, inspired by the Washington Post, Morning Mix, July 27:"Disgraceful, plain and simple': Couple wearing Nazi flag masks at Walmart filmed in viral clash

the President
claims, I'm all for masks
a couple
wear red face masks
with swastikas

PoemHunter, July 27 2020 

FYI: “I’m all for masks,” Trump said during an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday, adding that he would wear one “in a tight situation with people.” I’m All For Masks,’ Trump Says In Sudden Change Of Tune by Jack BrewsterForbes Staff

Note: The ninety-third entry could be read as a sequel to the eighty-ninth entry:

Real News about This Barefaced Lie

Any resemblance to current events or actual locales, or to living persons, is not coincidental.

blinking EXIT
down the hospital hallway
six feet apart
from a line of masked generals
the masked President

In a dimly lit attic room where I shelter my time and my drunken shadow, I doom-scroll for the latest update: New Coronavirus Cases in U.S. Soar Past 68,000, Shattering Record.