©2018 by Alice Walker
When the President of the United States
Calls a black woman a dog
We understand he lacks the courage
To say what he means: bitch.
But this is where we are
As a nation of cowards,
As we follow a person,
Who, as Omarosa warns us,
Is falling over a cliff.
His thumb near a button
That might annihilate us all.
His anger certain to be taken out
On the children and their parents,
Grandparents, housing and food stores,
In Korea and Iran.
Syria, and other places too.
As well as on black people everywhere
Whose feelings he consistently ignores
And hurts.
Lucky for dogs
They do not feel this pain.
They go about their business
Same as always:
An eternity of kindness
In their expressive eyes;
Aeons of concern and helpfulness;
Offerings of joy
In every Age.
Dogs are the winners here
On Earth I think.
They know what is
Apparently impossible
For many humans to learn:
That there exists
A kind of free Goodness
In the soul that gives up
All pretense
Of being more of or better than:
A kind of free happiness
In being creatures
With nothing to hide.
Written in defense of dogs everywhere. And
of women, everywhere. See Unhinged: An
Insider’s Account of the Trump White
House by Omarosa Manigault Newman