Day 1: The Swearing In
January 20th, 2017, Harlem, NY
Hand on a book
he has never read,
he swears to uphold a document
he cannot fathom
except in terms of
the right to shoot his enemies,
or swindle them,
or rape them.
Stand beside him,
hand on whatever book
holds the most meaning for you—
Bible, Koran, Leaves of Grass
—and take your own oath to yourself
and all you hold dear:
I will
–love deeply
–make art
–learn how to take a bullet
for the future.
FLASHBACK: The Occupant’s First Year
as told by Lee Lottner’s Perfidy Report
Posted on 01/28/2017 Day 1: Don’t Fucking Forget What’s Normal
Lee Kottner’s blog originated in the early days of the W Administration, when Dick Cheney et al. opened Guantanamo Bay and began to use torture and disappearance as a method of “security.” It operated up until the time that Obama was elected and was then, optimistically, deleted.
She brought it back in 2016 because there was a need for both a record of the awful things the new T-Rump (also known as the Orange Cheeto, although I feel this maligns a perfectly fine snack food, and the Bigot in Chief or Liar in Chief, or Trumpacabra) administration was/is trying to normalize, and a place for her own resistance.
Lee generously offered up her 2016 blog to Headline Poetry & Press in solidarity with our mission; to feed, inform and renew the rebellion of this time. To feed our tenacious (and often tired) spirits, we will be sharing portions of her blog, with significant dates in mind. If you wish to peruse her blog on your own, click your favorite of the three words below.
Impeach. Remove. Evolve.
Lee Kottner is a writer, former adjunct professor, activist, and book artist living in Brooklyn, NY. Her poetry has appeared in several journals and anthologies, and a chapbook from Blue Stone Press. Stories from the Ruins—a hand-bound, hardcover artist’s chapbook of 16 poems about the events of 9/11—is in the permanent collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts and MoMA. She’s currently working on her next poetry collection, Water from the Well. You can follow her on Instagram and reach her on MeWe.
