A Politician and His Staffer at The New York State Fair, 2019

“The woman who brought down Andrew Cuomo: ‘I dropped a nuclear bomb on my life’”

-The Independent

In 2019, this same woman attended the New York State Fair with him.

Laughter chimes through northeastern winds,

stomachs churn, turned upside down

under a heavy sky on some ride or another.

Roller coasters are not as frightening

as he who rules this corrupt carnival,

and what am I, but a tired clown

in his narcissistic circus, knowing that I’d vomit

far faster when seated next to him

than on a ride here.

I want off this ride.

We deboard the train and I pray he can’t see

the way my legs shake, I hate

how his subjects run to him with cheerful grins

and cameras flashing, his hand gripping my arm,

these heels crush the gravel beneath,

he crushes me in his grasp, wholly.

I ought to smile but I’m sicker

than the kids exiting the Scrambler,

as the people ask for selfies, ask him

to kiss their babies, do they know that

he kisses me when nobody sees, know that

I can’t breathe, know that

I'm one more touch away from screaming?

I want off this ride.

I don’t know how much longer I can take

going upside down and rightside up–

so much for being New York Tough.