Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Special Feature: One Year in Poems: Trumperica, Revisited

My Dear Readers:

I would like to share with you my published poems below for reflections on the impacts of one year of Trumperica:


I Before American Carnage

Election Campaign:

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

my pitbull
chasing her Siamese cat ...
Trump on TV blasts
If you go after me
I'm coming after you!


Election Victory:

USADecides:
TheSecondDumbing 
theredhotheadline
morphsintomarching
phalanxafterphalanx


II Trumpocalypse Now!

Post-Election

Trump this, Trump that ...
with this news-punched mind
I sound-bathe in silence

Trump news blackout
the calm between us holds
a world unspoken

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


Inauguration

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


Day One Promises and Crimes

American dream
somewhere over the rainbow
detention camps

this man-child fullmouths
frack and drill, baby, frack and drill
with a meaty smile ...
I turn off the TV, gazing
at cracked corners of my world

No more climate alarmist talk.

flashfloodingweareallinthistogether
floodafterfloodweareallinthis t o ge t h e r a gain

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

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

one, big, beautiful bill ...
a hushed silence
sweeps the briefing room
then a loud fart 
echoes, echoing

trade war news
a spiderweb on the eaves
sagging with raindrops

sleepless again ...
I count Trump's crimes backwards
into oblivion

think, feel and act
while they're still "legal"
chant after chant
no more DOGEy business
drop this small dick(tator)

tariffs today
TACO tomorrow ... in heat
a stray chases its tail 

in red twilight
one stray trying to outbark
the other ...
the Trump-Musk feud grows
loud, louder and dark, darker

at the steps 
of the Statue of Liberty
each of these names
of the disappeared read out loud...
a breath, a wound, and a warning

Epstein files news
the rasp, rasping
of cicadas

In a 2011 email to Ghislaine Maxwell, “… that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.”

a pink-haired girl
seen through a telescope
of age-spotted hands

the footfalls
of MAGA intruders
stir clouds of dust ...
the Wall of Free Speech in twilight
sentineled with talk show hosts

in dim light
staring at the TV talk show
Donald Trump holds 
a remote control with buttons:
Power, Pause, Mute, Sack, Deport

ka-kis-to-cracy ...
my English teacher's voice
quivering
as U-S-A! chants get louder
from the crowd outside the school
(FYI: The first part of kakistocracy comes from the Greek kákisto(s), meaning “worst.” Therefore, kakistocracy means “government by the WORST.”)

No Kings Protest:
chant after chant of fried truth
eggflation
scrambled justice, poached rights,
cracked democracy... Trump, Fuck Off

in gathering dark
the entrance to Mar-a-Lago
No Parking Any Time  😎

the burning photo
of gold-crowned Donald Trump ...
the flame licks upward
then a Nenee Good lookalike
lights her cigarette


Foreign Policies:

Land of the Crazed --> USA
Canada <-- Home of the Brave
giant road sign
at the corner of the border
as flocks of geese fly north

in Toronto sunshine
with the scent of early spring
and freedom
two Americans meet and part:
one draft dodger, one Trump evader

the Don posed 
behind the Resolute Desk
with fingers cocked
for the cameras' rapid fire ...
a map crossed with red X’s


Russian Invasion of Ukraine:

the barrage 
of blaring lies and shit-words
from his meaty mouth ...
between Trump's pauses 
Vance's thunderous echo-fart

wave after wave
of blue-and-yellow flags
in bitter cold
atop the White House Fencing
a hand-drawn sunflower


Gaza Genocide

the man who bombed kids
gives a golden dove statue
to the man
who sent him planeloads of bombs:
war is peace, peace is war ...

War Is Peace

pyramid
after pyramid of rubble ...
again "ceasefire" strikes

fireball by fireball ...
the length
of a Gazan night

smoky twilight
a cry sinks into the sound
of a gunshot

skeletal houses
these layers of silence
upon silence

The ink barely dry on the paper, and Phase Two of the ceasefire plan announced to the clicking of cameras.

these dark blue lips
as cracked window frost thickens
Gazan sky tinged red


One Year On

A notice pinned to the community library’s message board: The Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Section has been moved to Current Affairs.

Apocalypse Now
spine bent, margins yellowed …
on its last page
Trump 2028
inked in a shaking hand


Reflection

alone, putting
the Trump-raged world on mute
I take a sip
of morning black coffee
and listen to the snowfall


To conclude today's "Special feature" post, I would like to share with you the latest entry of Trump Empire, Inc, LXXI: 

a gembun written in response to Mark Carney's Davos speech on the first anniversary of the Convicted Felon sitting behind Resolute Desk:

Clapping of hands and thumping of feet to the claim: "If we're not at the table, we're on the menu."

my black cat returns
with a bloodied bird in mouth
drums of a trade war


Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXII

Canada lives
because of the US, Trump claims 
fart on fart in Davos

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