‘Permanent Power Plan’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick

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Permanent Power Plan

Scene: While Joe Biden is taking notes, the Statue of Liberty appears and gives him ideas.

STATUE OF LIBERTY
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…
 
BIDEN
Bid them leave to reach our Southern border.
Come one, come all, per Presidential order.
 
STATUE OF LIBERTY
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
 
BIDEN
Come, come, to where the lavish handouts lurk.

[picks up spiece of paper with Democrats Green New Deal overview, 2019, and nods approvingly] 

“Economic security for all
who are unable or unwilling to work.”
 
STATUE OF LIBERTY
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
 
BIDEN
For Democratic power evermore.

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Note: Statue of Liberty words from “The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus

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Plight of the Formal Poet

With her sterling work rejected
She was feeling rather sad,
But the formless tripe selected
Turned her mood to almost glad.

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Self-Identification

Today I’ll self-identify
As Shakespeare—it’s not hard.
Send poems to that Mantyk guy,
And sue if they get barred.

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Russel Winick recently started writing poetry at nearly age 65, after ending a long legal career. He resides in Naperville, Illinois.