header image: About 150 people, most of them college students, marched near Second and Cowley in Spokane on April 5, 1968 in a show of sympathy for the death of Martin Luther King Jr. The group marched the sidewalks from the Calvary Baptist Church to the Lincoln Statue, where they heard several addresses. Representatives of Fort Wright College initiated the sympathy march. (SOURCE: The Spokesman-Review Archive)

SEASON 1: Pence Protest

by Alexander Manzoni, Elections Correspondent

volume 1.

Today is the day of the protest.
Who are we protesting today, you may ask?
And, to that I say: Republicons.
Vice President Pence is coming to town,
to support the rival of Lisa Brown:
Cathy McMorris Rogers—
Trump’s personal puppet mouthpiece in Eastern Washington.

And wouldn’t you know it?
They need all the help they can get, come midterms—
in November, in one month.
In one month it will be decided.
No more big battlefields until 2020
(not the show, but the year)

Who will fall and who shall rise?
Out here, the deck is stacked against us—
Leftists, bleeding hearts—
IT IS GOOD THAT OUR HEARTS CAN STILL BLEED.
For yours, Mr. V.P., has hardened and mummified
into coal diamonds. BLOOD DIAMONDS.

Do you hear all of Us?
Do you see all of Us mobilized online—
We are taking to The Streets.
We are peacefully demonstrating Our Discontent
and moralistic outrage.
Here be another stage—another battle
to be FOUGHT, with words and soon-to-be ballots.
We might lose, but,
we’ll still do what is legally possible to STOP YOU.

Intolerance. WHERE IS YOUR PRECIOUS BORDER WALL?
Once built, I HOPE IT FALLS, and CRUMBLES INTO NOTHINGNESS.
So, what is this?
How have We become SO divided?

…

volume II.

Politics Trump your principles.
You SCRAMBLE through The Bible
With your Confederate, White Nationalist highlighter—
twisting ancient words of ancient prophets.
Who, if alive today, would be on heavy doses
of anti-psychotic pharmaceuticals.
You would strip their healthcare, as well.
Sorry, Moses, Elijah, and ALL The Others.

You have SUCCUMBED to ethical constipation.
You had better INCREASE your fiber consumption.
Perhaps learn A FEW LESSONS from Your Man—
The Big J.C. For He, would NOT follow you (it’s true).
But, that isn’t something You could USE,
to drag DOWN Your Political Opposition.
Did you MISS them? The Words—
“love your neighbor as yourself?”

The V.P. is NOT WELCOME. For You
Have stood BEHIND The Casino Criminal.
And have helped him turn This Country
into a reality TV program, in progress.
WHAT PROGRESS IS THIS?
Walking backwards while wearing a blindfold,
to encourage all the Worst Characteristics
of the old and and angered ignorant.
It plays RIGHT INTO the hands of the rich and powerful
while Kanye rambles on, still,
and Ted Nugent oils his guns.
THERE’S NOWHERE TO RUN—
NOWHERE TO HIDE
in this twisted carnival sideshow.

Don’t you KNOW that THIS is INSANE?
Explain your motives—
without benefit of Fox News fearmongering.
That The Democrats are trying to turn
Our Country communist while
Your #1 Man plays patty cake with Putin.

You are charging hundreds of dollars, for tickets.
It is clear who you are given towards—
The Lords of Industry (Lords of Insanity).
All they are about are tax cuts.
And you’ll keep cutting them—
robbing Peter to pay Paul
and borrowing to hide the fact
they blame EVERYONE,
except themselves.

…

volume III.

The Political Scene is A Living Hell.
The Bells toll for thee twelve times.
Fine wines and classic cars—
you need not travel TOO FAR
to witness this economic disparity.
An honest Republicon candidate is a rarity.
Find The Clarity to make
THE RIGHT CHOICE.
Listen to The Voice that tells you
how wrong THIS all is.
WHAT ABOUT ALL THE LOCKED-UP KIDS?
Can you hear Their Cries, as
they are denied Their Freedoms?
We don’t need THEM, these Republicons—
these CHEAP CONS. Olympus Mons.
Our President THINKS he’s A GOD.
BIGGER THAN ZEUS (it’s the truth)!
Trump is A Fly in Our Soup.
You may think it’s NO USE,
any longer, to try and STAND UP
while Our Cups keep filling
with blood and excreta.
It’s no wonder why the tea was so chunky.

A monkey could do a better job, than THIS.
“Chicken or fish?” you are asked,
as the plane spirals DOWN—
tailspin into a mountain,
while Our President pisses into Your Courtyard Fountain.
What? You say you don’t own one of them?
Then you’re going to be upset
when The Deed is done and you
are ABANDONED in The Desert—
blistering sun with nothing but your semi-automatic gun
to protect Your Terrified Family from 
mad roving gangs of Hillary’s.
CAN’T YOU SEE THAT THIS 
IS NOT THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
Kavanaugh’s erection—frat boy exposed and thrusted
into An Unwilling Woman’s Cheek.
And you DARE to label Us WEAK?

…

volume IV.

NOTHING DEFINES YOU except Your Hate, Your Greed,
Your Willingness to LOOK THE OTHER WAY
so You can have Your miserable day
and DRAG EVERYBODY DOWN along with You.
I PRAY THAT YOU LOSE.

Mike Pence, Our Best Defense is THE TRUTH.
Though I know it means so little, to YOU.
But, not to ALL.

We have thereupon gathered under the shadow
of The Trump Baby Macy’s Thanksgiving-style balloon
to voice Our Collective Indignation
to The ENTIRE NATION.

The buck stops here.
The Trump stops here.
We fear for Our Children.
We fear for Our Future Generations,
even if YOU, Cathy,
even if YOU, V.P., can only exist
within the temporal election cycle guidelines.
EVERYTHING IS FINE,
as long as You WIN.
Let The Healing BEGIN.

Though I would be lying if I said
this gaping open WOUND didn’t need stitches.
Red, white, and blue blood exits the laceration.
Might we aid the coagulation?
Or are we The Only Ones to take notice—
to CARE where This Path shall LEAD US?

Out here, in The Streets, I await the protest.
News crews have gathered
and the helium tanks are laid on the grass.
Blue cylinders and a sweater-bound lab seated between them.
A sign, so written, says: “IMPEACH THE LEECH.”

There, in it, be The Truth that We,
as A Nation are struggling to fully realize.
Your Republicon Designs are at fault.

…

volume V.

The Trump Baby has ARRIVED. It is carried on the backs of citizens—
patriots filled with LOVE and CONCERN
for The Fate of This Country.
Cameras pointed— they are tying him DOWN
amidst Fall wind gusts.
A blustery day, may We (and The Balloon)
not get TOO CARRIED AWAY, in the fervor.
I KNOW it can be TOO EASY.
With all of THIS TENSION
there needs to be SOME RELEASE or
we will thence be DRAWN into Pence’s RAGING TIDE.
Can there only be TWO SIDES?
Or may we, one day, RISE from The Stranglehold of Partisanship?
Either way, We mustn’t QUIT.
We mustn’t GIVE IN to utter exhaustion.
Of The Cost, will The Price be TOO MUCH?
Will Our Lives be TOUCHED
or thus GRABBED
by a VICIOUS TINY HAND,
who doesn’t acknowledge that NO MEANS NO.

Squeaky pump pumping up Trump
and the accompanying nuclear missile.
They asked me to hold the tethers, which I DID.
It was An Honor, for me.

There is a counter-protest developing across the street.
They are flying Their Banner:
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.
People are driving by, honking Their Support,
though a few are flying middle fingers.
A Trump masked man, straight out of The Purge, runs in on me, SCREAMING,
as I hold up the baby’s diaper.
Trying to provoke me to retaliation,
while he has me on Facebook live.
I wave and smile, 
and exclaim, to him, that: “America IS GREAT!”
It never needed to be made great, AGAIN.