Tall Tales
When I was a child
America was full giants
Of a huge man with an axe
That left footprints as lakes in his wake
Ate through logging towns
Felled entire forests with a single swipe
Worked better alone
But always had his Babe
The cowboy was never filmed with cows in the same shot
That was left for offscreen vaqueros
American Cowboys got stars and big guns
Never missed
Never left the shoot out to find those clapboard houses offer no protection for the family cowering inside
The child in the gingham dress is still corpse no matter which gang shot her
The Hammerman we loved for his size
He’s “too dumb to quit” even as it killed him
Nobody worried about the teaching his big black hands a skill
We just cheered on from bandstands in the desert as America sacrificial gladiator fought the machines were meant to save him
As a child the only thing I learned of giants is
they kill everything they love
die alone
Sleep giants.
Rest on the earth as mountains.
You were never really here
And our gingham dressed daughters have someplace to go.
Upbringing: A found poem of quotes from Donald and Ivanka Trump
Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Justice
If being complicit means…1
Locker room banter 2
You have to treat ‘em like shit 3
And when you’re a star 4
Grab them by the pussy 5
Perhaps I would be dating her 6
Quality for me is key 7
My father values talent 8
Low I.Q. crazy 9
A special place in hell for… 10
You are a pussy 11
Hard to be a ten 12
Gosh, I sound like my father 13
That’s part of the fun 14
1 Trump, Ivanka. Television Interview with Gayle King. CBS This Morning. CBS. April 5, 2017
2 Trump, Donald. Campaign Statement. Donald Trump Presidential Campaign. October 06, 2016
3 Trump, Donald. Told to friend Philip Johnson according to New York Magazine. 1992
4 Trump, Donald. Video Recording with Billy Bush. Access Hollywood. NBC. 2005
5 Trump, Donald. Video Recording with Billy Bush. Access Hollywood. NBC. 2005
6 Trump, Donald. Television Interview. The View. ABC. March 6, 2006
7 Trump, Ivanka. Online Interview with Andrew Bevan. TeenVogue. March 28, 2012
8 Trump, Ivanka. Listed as Headliner. 2016 Republican Convention. July 21, 2016
9 Trump, Donald. Tweet. Twitter. June 29,2017
10 Trump, Ivanka. Interview with unnamed reporter from Associated Press. Ivanka Trump says child tax credit ‘not a pet project’ by Catherine Lucey. Associated Press November 15, 2017
11 Trump, Donald. Video Recording with Billy Bush. Access Hollywood. NBC. 2005
12 Trump, Donald. Radio Interview with Howard Stern. The Howard Stern Show. WXRK. September 2005
13 Trump, Ivanka. The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life. Touchstone. April 20, 2010
14 Trump, Ivanka. Interview with Rachel Gillett. Ivanka Trump describes her life as the daughter of a potential US president, running the Trump empire, and building her own brand. Yahoo Finance. March 17, 2016
About the Artist:
HanaLena Fennel is a Jewish-Hawaiian American poet. She has writtten a book, Letters to the Leader, published by Moon Tide Press in response to the numerous executive orders issued during Trump’s term in office.
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instagram.com/hanalena.fennel.poetry
