Thursday, February 20, 2025

Special Feature: Selected Poems on Convicted Felon-in-Chief's First Month Back behind the Resolute Desk

My Dear Readers:

On Feb. 15, 2025, the Convicted Felon-in-Chief, sitting behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office, posted the following words on Truth Social:

He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.

I started my new writing project, On the Brink of Trumperica, this year, and I would like to share with you some of its entries that have documented and criticized the Convicted Felon-in-Chief's crimes and their devastating consequences during his first month.

I

one old man walks out
another moves in with Money
Arctic blast


II

the downward tilt
of his chin and forehead
and the knitted eyebrows ...
Convicted Felon's official portrait
[l]awfully like his mug shot

a dictator
on his "first day only" ...
in misty dark
the ghost of tomorrow whispers 
Trump Forever, Trump Forever


V

detention camp in shadow ...
between the guard and holding cells
dialects of silence


IX

the White House
pronounces, only two sexes...
trans youth trapped
between black-and-white Kansas
and rainbow-colored Oz


XI

trapped in the nightmare
of four more years of this man-child ...
we wake each morning
as if we're living
the Groundhog Day loop


XII

the people of Trump
                  by the people of Musk
                  for the people of the SuperRich ...
sun-bleached stars and stripes
atop the Capitol fencing


XIII

woke mind virus ...
this double-masked man mumbles
in the psych ward

And the first fable tanka written for the cheering crowds of Donald Trump's supporters, the MAGA Cult:

Between Heaven and Hell, VIII

just a dream, and yet ...
the mountain lion roaring
to flocks of sheep,
once elected as your King
I'll be vegetarian


(FYI: for more about fable, see To the Lighthouse: Fable Tanka

and The New York Times, Feb. 19, 2025: ‘Long Live the King’: Trump Likens Himself to Royalty on Truth Social: A fondness for regal themes was apparent as the president applauded his administration’s move to kill congestion pricing in New York.

in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday, 

“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED,” Donald Trump wrote. “LONG LIVE THE KING!”)


To conclude today's Special Feature post, I would like to share with you the following remarks about writing poetry:

Strive to change the world in such a way that there’s no further need to be a dissident. Read between the lives, and write between the lines. "Be committed to something outside yourself."

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "Poetry as Insurgent Art"


In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent. This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear.

-- Toni Morrison, "No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear"


And give my heartfelt thanks to all of you: 

Today, as of now: 5826 pageviews

Yesterday: 2093 pageviews


A poem after a poem after a poem is POWER!

-- paraphrasing Margaret Atwood


Added: On the Brink of Trumperica, XV

Living in the Land of Promise

just a dream, and yet ...
the mountain lion roaring
to flocks of sheep,
once elected as your King
I'll be vegetarian

a dictator
on his "first day only" ...
in misty dark
the ghost of tomorrow whispers
Trump Forever, Trump Forever

the people of Trump
                  by the people of Musk
                  for the people of the SuperRich ...
sun-bleached stars and stripes
atop the Capitol fencing

surge after surge
of woke mind virus ...
wearing a crown
the Convicted Felon alone
in an Oval Office window


FYI: The Telegraph, Feb., 7: Let’s celebrate: Donald Trump is vaccinating the West against the woke mind virus

Whether it’s gender ideology or border control, the president has torn through years of bizarre, divisive groupthink in a matter of weeks

And Rolling Stone, Feb. 19: Trump on Himself: 'LONG LIVE THE KING'

The White House’s official X account also shared an image of a fake cover of Time magazine depicting Trump in a golden crown, with the headline “LONG LIVE THE KING.” 

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