Denise Duhamel
Summer 2025 | Poetry
Holy Hell Sonnet
--after John Donne
Batter my heart, three-headed Trump, as you
And Musk and Vance force—ahem—“recommend”
Nutjobs to cabinets. Overthrow the U.S, bend
The planet to break, blow, burn, and make a new
World order. Usurp each city and town. Subdue
Labor unions. Admit your lust has no end;
Reason, who cares? Viceroy of Canada, defendant-
Be-damned. Captive to billionaires, scribble untrue
“Truth” posts. Yet so many love you, as you feign
love for them. Instead you betroth our enemies;
Divorced from morals, break into Fort Knox again,
Take me to Guantánamo, imprison me, for I,
the country, the whole earth, never shall be free,
As you chase each bitcoin. O, genius dummy.
Denise Duhamel is the author of Pink Lady (Pitt Poetry Series, 2025), Second Story (Pittsburgh, 2021) and Scald (Pittsburgh, 2017). Blowout (Pittsburgh, 2013) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. In Which (2024) is a winner of the Rattle Chapbook Prize. She and the late Maureen Seaton co-authored six collections, the most recent of which is Tilt (Bridwell Press, 2025.) Denise’s collaborations with Julie Marie Wade include The Latest: 20 Ghazals for 2020 (Small Harbor Publishing, 2025). A recipient of NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships, she is a distinguished university professor at Florida International University in Miami.