Laura
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laura-gerling.bsky.social
Laura
@laura-gerling.bsky.social
130 followers 220 following 16 posts
I'm a poet poet and educator with over 50 years of writing experience, specializing in flash poetry, documentary verse, and traditional forms. A retired college registrar with a master's degree in Writing Genre Fiction.
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laura-gerling.bsky.social
Inspired by a TikTok lawyer's reflection on becoming someone we don't recognize when we do what must be done. A pantoum about collective transformation in extraordinary times.

unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/23/i...

#poetry #pantoum #political #DocumentaryVerse #solidarity
I’m Not Who I Was
For Dadchats, and all who do what must be done I’m not who I wasthese times have remade meI do what must be doneoperating beyond my borders These times have remade memy words now witness what…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:40 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
A documentary poem about diplomatic chaos, and the lesson that "he'll be your friend until you tell him, 'No.'"

unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/23/f...

#Poetry #DocumentaryPoetry #Satire #PoliticalPoetry #Davos #Trump #WEF2026 #Resistance #FlashPoetry
Friends and Enemies
A Documentary Poem from Davos, 2026 He flew to Switzerland to see his friends,to share his wisdom and his current trends.The leaders gathered there in fancy suits,but mostly he had come to hand out…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 23, 2026 at 2:59 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
Trump uninvited Canada from his "Board of Peace" today, after Canada said they wouldn't pay the $1 billion membership fee anyway. So naturally, I wrote a thank-you letter from PM Carney. Sometimes the best satire writes itself. 🍁
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/23/5...
#CanPoli #PoliticalSatire
Dear Donald
Dear Donald, Thank you for the noteYou sent today (the one you wroteAbout your Board of Peace, and howWe’re uninvited from it now). We’re sad we’ll miss that special crewVladimir …
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January 23, 2026 at 12:56 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
The Emperor's Rave Reviews Trump says his Davos speech got "rave reviews." The gap between what he says happened and what happened.
#DocumentaryPoetry #Davos #SpokenWord #PoliticalPoetry
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/22/t...

#DocumentaryPoetry #Davos #SpokenWord #PoliticalPoetry
The Emperor’s Rave Reviews
A Documentary Spoken Word Poem He says rave reviews.The room was dead silent. He says they loved it.Attendees muttered this is ridiculous,this is scary,began to drift outbefore he even finished. He…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 23, 2026 at 4:33 AM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
Trump said "Sometimes we need dictators." Here's my response listing all the taters we actually need. Spoiler: dictators aren't on the list.
#poetry #politicalpoetry #resistance

All the Taters We Need and the One We Don't
January 22, 2026 at 12:56 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
ICE memo revealed today: they can break into homes without judicial warrants. New duplex sonnet "Papers" documents this moment and its echoes. Masks cover faces but cannot cover souls. #poetry #ICE #civilrights #protestpoetry

unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/22/p...
Papers
Masks cover faces but can’t cover souls.Their boots break doors that need no warrants now. Boots that break doors and echo from decades past: Skin alone makes citizens into prey. Brown skin m…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 22, 2026 at 9:52 AM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
I'm probably best known for rhyming flash poetry. This satirical piece just popped through my head because sometimes you just need to figure out what to do with unearned accolades while casually dropping bombs.
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/21/w...
#poetry #satire #politicalpoetry
What to Do with a Borrowed Peace Prize
I borrowed a Peace Prize last Thursday at three,And now I’m not sure what to do.Should I put it on eBay? Hang it up in a tree?Or bronze it like an old baby shoe? I could melt it for scrap (it…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 21, 2026 at 6:43 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
A fake job posting for Trump's Cabinet highlighting their scandal qualifications.

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Job Openings: Equal Opportunity Disruptor
Trump Cabinet 2025: Now Hiring Scandal-Ready Officials EQUAL OPPORTUNITY DISRUPTORThe Trump Administration seeks unqualified individuals with demonstrated records of controversy, ethical challenges…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:06 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
Flashpoint is a documentary verse tracking the pattern from Venezuela to Minneapolis to Greenland. When constitutional guardrails fall and the method is tested and proven, what comes next?

unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/21/f...
Flashpoint
When Venezuela was conqueredwithout a whimper,its President kidnapped,the remaining factionsboth established and in opposition,made choices: complicity or cowardice.Venezuela wasn’t enough.Sh…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 21, 2026 at 11:48 AM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
What happens when the world walks away?
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/f...
Fate
We are going to be left behindlike a bully on a playgroundafter the little kidstood up and took him down. That bully will never have another chance.They’re done,social outcast,always on the o…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:58 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
A documentary poem in prose about Tim Walz who delivered progressive results being driven from office by manufactured conspiracy and coordinated attacks, replaced by a conspiracy theorist. What we trade when we destroy competence for grift. #TimWalz

unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/06/m...
Minnesota, 2026
Teacher. Coach. Veteran.He came to the work honestly,twenty years in a classroom before Congress,six more as governor. He understoodservice meant something beyond the title. Free school meals for e…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 20, 2026 at 6:18 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
Red Cap a satirical take on Trump's Greenland purchase attempt and the Danish entrepreneur whose flopped red caps became protest symbols with "Make America Go Away" a movement that crossed the Atlantic. unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/r...
Red Caps
When Donald Trump declared his grand designTo add Greenland’s ice to the property line,The Danes stood amazed at this real estate play:Was this reality TV here on display? Jesper Tonnesen had…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 20, 2026 at 6:15 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
A flash piece from today
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/t...
The Line
Call it a line if you want.Seventeen in a hundred saytake it, just don’t send troops.Four in a hundred saytake it, period. Four in a hundred would send sons to bleedfor this—who mourn what we…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:25 PM
laura-gerling.bsky.social
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/b...
Today's first offering.
Boats
Negative 55 Years Old “We had boats landing there, also,” he says.Another lie. How many is that? Is someone keeping count?How could we have boats?We were negative 55 years old,not a cou…
unsolicitedcom.wordpress.com
January 20, 2026 at 3:58 PM