Second Coming No. 244 — September 20, 2025
A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by Donald Trump and his fascist regime
Chad Parenteau
Like a Prayer
Trump’s own minutes to
recent morning agenda,
misspelled to say “mourning,”
date listed as “ongoing.”
When I leave
this perfect body,
I’ll keep the gold
around my neck.
I’ll form a chain
with all the medals
I’ve ever given
to all my friends.
Reaching the top,
I can take my gold,
tip the doorman
there at the gate.
He’ll read his book,
find my name, my
perfect middle name,
completely biblical.
I’ll sit on God’s knee
like a beautiful child,
a babe on my own, legs
stretching out forever.
Chad Parenteau’s most recent poetry collections are All's Well Isn't You (Independent, 2024) and Cant Republic: Erasures and Blackouts (Alien Buddha, 2024). His poems have appeared in Résonancee, Molecule, Ibbetson Street, Pocket Lint, Cape Cod Poetry Review, and other journals, as well as in anthologies including Reimagine America: An Anthology for the Future (Vagabond, 2022), French Connections: A Gathering of Franco-American Poets (Louisiana Literature Press, 2007), and others. Parenteau serves as associate editor of Oddball Magazine and lives in Boston, where he hosts the Stone Soup Poetry series.
Second Coming is a project of Indolent Books, a haven for poets over 50 without a first book and a welcoming space for women, people of color, queer and trans writers, and others who do not fit molds or conform to expectations.
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