Kimiko Hahn

A Villanelle after Trump: Kimiko Hahn

A Villanelle after Trump “unleashes an unrelenting series of false, misleading and exaggerated statements as he sought to distort …” or Found Lies from NYT article on fact-checking the debates, Oct. 23, 2020

Catch and release is a disaster.
A murderer would come in, a rapist would come in…
They say I’m immune … nobody’s been able to say that. But I’m immune.

I’m listening to all of them, including Anthony…
Anthony … did not say to wear a mask.
Catch and release is a disaster.

There has been nobody tougher on Russia.
I prepaid millions and millions of dollars in taxes.
They say I’m immune … nobody’s been able to say that. But I’m immune.

We have the best testing in the world by far–
that is why we have so many cases.
Catch and release is a disaster.

Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia. Look at India.
It is filthy. The air is filthy.
They say I’m immune … nobody’s been able to say that. But I’m immune.

I called my accountants–under audit.
I’m going to release my taxes as soon as we can. I want to do it.
Catch and release is a disaster
whether it’s four months or a lifetime, nobody’s been able to say that.

Kimiko Hahn's latest book of poems Foreign Bodies, like most 2020 collections, will have a book party post-pandemic (!). She teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Literary Translation at Queens College, CUNY.