I
Among many shivering senators,
The only warm things
Were Bernie Sanders’ mittened hands.
II
I was of three minds
Like a meme
Of three Bernies riding in a subway car.
III
Bernie gesticulated vehemently to the other candidates.
It was a notable part of the debates.
IV
A Democrat and a Republican
Are a meme.
A Democrat and a Republican and an Independent
Are a meme.
V
I do not know which to favor,
The directness of accents
Or the directness of assertions,
Bernie seated at the inauguration
Or in a meme,
Just after.
VI
Social media filled the broad nation
With an Inaugural icon.
The sitting figure of Bernie
Crossed from East to West.
The meme
Traced in the ethos
A relatable curmudgeon.
VII
O thin men of Congress,
Why do you imagine Russian memes?
Do you not see how the Senator from Vermont
Walks down the steps
To find his seat on the bleachers among you?
VIII
I know Brooklyn accents
And gruff, incomparable cadences
But I know, too,
That Bernie memes are involved
In what I know.
IX
When a Bernie meme disappears,
It parallels the limits
Of the desire for universal healthcare.
X
In the sight of Bernie
Sitting on the rings of Saturn,
Even the pundits of discord
Would smile at the conceit.
XI
He flew over Washington
In a helicopter.
Once, a rage gripped him,
In that he mistook
The rising democratic tide
For socialism.
XII
The country is healing.
The Senator must be sitting.
XIII
It was Inauguration morning all afternoon.
We were healing
And we were going to heal.
Senator Sanders sat
On a folding chair.
