On Donald Trump Tweeting that Meryl Streep is One of the Most Overrated Actresses by Amy Saul-Zerby
This year we learned the difference
between shock & surprise
& maybe too late, but
who would have thought, if given
the chance to think?
who would realized
the necessity of thinking in time?
Bush did 9/11.
No, you show me
yr birth certificate.
Such a nasty woman!
Do you even lift, bro?
Locker room talk.
it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.
It’s Going To Be Okay.
Shazaam would have been
a great movie.
George Carlin asks from inside
your phone if there aren’t
enough songs in the world already.
The point is never quite what
you thought it would be.
Last year we learned the difference
between shock & surprise.
Next year we will learn it again.
Aren’t there enough subreddits
in the world already?
Do you even want to spend
yr time like this, bro?
How much do you hate women
on a scale of one
to president-elect trump?
Do you even remember sometimes
that Holocaust deniers exist?
Locker room talk.
My husband is
a good man.
We did not need
to drop the a-bomb.
Nobody likes war
& yet!
Locker room talk.
Henry Wallace would have won.
The Russians love their children, too.
This is why democrats lost the election.
You can make yrself
believe anything
& yet!
Locker room talk.
His hands are small, I know, but they’re
not yours they are his own.
How many people do you think bought
Jewel’s poetry book?
How many redditors does it take
to screw in a light bulb?
Aren’t there enough songs
in the world already?
Where is your sense of irony, bro?
How much do you hate yrself
on a scale of one to
hating everyone else for not
hating you?
It’s ok.
My husband is
a good man.
I assure you,
his hands
are not even really
as small
as they say.
Aren’t there enough political
poems in the world, amy?
says George Carlin from the inside
of your phone
as you over-pepper yr eggs
& make the coffee too strong.
If you let yourself enjoy this moment,
the terrorists win.
Do you even hate women at all, bro?
Do you even know how to love
women & hate yrself
at the same time?
Trick question:
locker room talk.
Our husbands are
such good men.
I mean, if they weren’t
we would certainly
leave them,
right?
Aren’t there enough white men
in the world already?
I don’t see color says
Stephen Colbert
from inside the mid
two thousands.
Do you understand why
it’s funny yet?
This is why the democrats
lost the election.
No, this is why the democrats
lost the election.
No, this is why the democrats
lost the election.
This year we learned the difference
between shock & surprise.
Next year, we will learn it again.
How much do you love
a wartime economy
on a scale of one
to Holocaust deniers?
How much do you hate women
on a scale of one
to president-elect trump?
Do you even pretend
not to understand the phrase
check your privilege, bro?
About the author:
Amy Saul-Zerby is a Philadelphia-based poet. She is managing editor of Voicemail Poems, as well as multimedia editor for APIARY Magazine. Her first full-length collection ‘Paper Flowers, Imaginary Birds’ was published by Be About It Press in January 2017, and her work has also appeared in TheNewerYork, Painted Bride Quarterly and Spy Kids Review.
Vending Machine Press 
I love this, Amy Saul-Zerby. I’d love for you to tell us some of the thought that went into it. I’m genuinely curious and intrigued.
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Thank you so much! I guess it’s largely about misogyny, which is something I’ve been thinking about a lot – throughout the presidential campaign, and in the wake of the election. The poem is very much an attempt to process the sense of alienation I’ve felt as a woman trying to reconcile the normalization/acceptance of misogynist words & actions with kind of continuing to feel safe and at home in the country, in the world, and in personal relationships with men. So it’s a reaction to feeling attacked in that way, and a sort of meditation on the toll that this rhetoric of casual sexism & hatred (i.e.”that’s just locker room talk”) takes on women (& of course, people of all gender identities who have a strong sense of empathy).
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very cool
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thanks!
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Well, I appreciate hearing what it means to you. I love those little blurbs because they make the poem so much more meaningful, and I had to know! I read some of your other poetry, and I love how honest and straightforward you are, and the humor you use. So I checked out Voicemail Poems and really enjoyed it. The last poem — with the goat noises — I needed to laugh like that. It was so strange and wonderful. I love that idea, and the audio quality of the poet’s voice heard over the phone feels more intimate somehow.
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