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The PEN is mightier than chief twit’s tweets

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Photos by Tequila Minsky

On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration, hundreds of writers, along with local politicians, gathered Sunday on the steps of the main New York Public Library building at 42nd St. in support of free speech. Above, Art Spiegelman, creator of “Maus,” read lyrics from a Frank Zappa song, “It Can’t Happen Here,” as a delighted Bob Holman, of the Bowery Poetry Club, looked on. As for Holman, he started to read the beginning of the preamble of the “Constitution of the United States of Poetry,” but then was “interrupted” as he was “handed the words to Trump’s Inaugural Poem, written by Stephen Sondheim,” or so he claimed: “I thought that you’d want what I want, sorry my dear. But where are the clowns? Send in the clowns Don’t bother they’re here!!!” Also speaking at the rally were Congressmember Jerrold Nadler and state Senator Brad Hoylman.

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