| WFR POETRY |

| WFR POETRY |

death by 1826

by Lancee Whetman

after John Berryman, Dream Song #22 “Of 1826”

I am constitutional chain-smoke

I am the pronouns he/him/his, Ivy-league coattails.

I am the pronouns she/her/hers, liberal-arts learned.

I am walking-on-water with power, drowning democracy.

I am a soap box and a sailor’s mouth

I am part subway rat, part bureaucrat.

I am a mini skirt, sitting legs-crossed at the ass-and-elephant circus.

I am a thought-deterrent poison, handcuffing truth.

I am all ‘it’s a hell of a deal,’ but I come with high interest.

I am a millennial with misconstrued motives.

I am a cut-and-paste cog.

I am femme fatale with fluidity.

I am all antennae static and couch-potato cushion.

1826, fifty celebrations of independence.

Cheers! to the final fate of our founding fathers—

To John Adams, 90!

To Thomas Jefferson, 83!

I am the tell-tale sign(ature),

the last word

on Liberty Street.

Lancee Whetman (she/her/hers) is a human. Being. living and writing in Alaska. She has self-published two poetry collections—“Blinded by Feeling” (2023) and “Further West and Fireweed” (2024). She holds a Juris Doctorate from Vermont Law School. In her spare time, she can be found walking in the woods. www.vigilancee.org and @__vigilancee.