“Auguries of this Inauguration,” by Penn Kemp

January 20, 2025

This Awful Inauguration Day augurs
dimly for most, and we are not even
in the United States. The world awaits

uncertain of outcome, certain only that
meanness prevails of heart and intent.
We’ve dropped into the well of offal.

An Awful Inauguration Day augurs well
for the unduly rich but poorly for poor
dispossessed and for poor middle class.

This Awful Inauguration Day augurs ill
for tariffs, for taxing the health of nations,
for all illegal aliens and alienated arts.

This Awful Inauguration Day augurs dimly
for us all, and we aren’t even in the Year
of the slippery Wood Snake till January 29.

This Awful Inauguration Day crows triumph
for the cock of the walk, king for a day, for
another four years. We withhold, withstand.

We don’t withdraw. We march, we hold
on, hold to truth as we know it. We refuse.
We are other. We are alien. And we protest.

“Presidents Do Not Rule-5117” by Geoff Livingston is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Originally published in The Typescript magazine

Author Profile

Penn Kemp

Penn Kemp has been celebrated as a trailblazer since her first publication of poetry (Bearing Down, Coach House, 1972). The League of Canadian Poets honored her with their Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award (2025), as Spoken Word Artist of the year (2015), and as a foremother of Canadian Poetry. Recent collections include: Ordinary / Moving (Silver Bow Publishing, 2025); Lives of Dead Poets (above /ground press, 2025); INCREMENTALLY (Hem Press, 2024); POEMS IN RESPONSE TO PERIL, an anthology for Ukraine (co-editor, Pendas Productions, 2023); P.S. (with Sharon Thesen, Gap Riot Press, 2022). Penn is active across the web with multimedia collaborations: see pennkemp.substack.com and pennkemp.weebly.com.