The Senators (Loaded for Bear)
               (after Bob Heman)


The senators are trampling through this poem like legislative deer caught in the rosebushes.
Some are wearing Republican-red coats; others, blue ties in the shape of England. They have flag
pins over their lapels, but they pledge allegiance to the bears. Their national anthem is black
bear. The state of their union is brown bear. Their vote on climate change is polar bear. Their
stance on guns is silence; instead, they cast unanimous ayes in favor of winter. The senators
waddle single file like a row of German ducklings, orderly but defeated. They sit in sandboxes of
mud, with bloody paws and pockets full of dirty money. When recess is called, they pack up
their soapboxes and bullhorns, and retreat to various golf courses or corrupt caves.


                           Cindy Hochman