For No Kings Protests
the man's meaty smile
behind his Resolute Desk
no, more wars: I ran
Chen-ou Liu
Commentary: The juxtaposition of the “meaty smile”—suggestive of indulgence, appetite, even latent aggression—with the Resolute Desk, an enduring symbol of executive authority, creates a vivid portrait of power tinged with cynicism.
The opening phrase of line three, “no, more wars,” operates as a subversive inversion of the long-standing pacifist slogan “no more wars.” The insertion of a single comma fractures the original sentiment: “no” becomes a rejection of restraint, while “more wars” emerges as the implied directive. This minimal syntactic shift produces a maximal ideological reversal, turning a plea for peace into an endorsement of escalation.
The closing phrase, “I ran,” carries the poem’s sharpest satirical weight through a compact triple entendre. First, it evokes “Iran,” gesturing toward the geopolitical theater most often associated with American military discourse. Second, it signals the act of running for office, tying the speaker’s rhetoric to campaign positioning. Third, it hints at evasion—running away from responsibility or prior obligation—quietly invoking critiques of avoidance or selective service. Together, these layers compress into a single clipped phrase, reinforcing the poem’s central tension between performance, power, and consequence.
Editor's Notes:
1 Axios, May 24: More than 3,000 No Kings protests set for Saturday.
2 This senryu could be read as a prequel to my senbun below:
Peace Is War
The butcher pushes more red meat through steel teeth. The wall-mounted TV blares “Operation Epic Fury” between discount ads.
war after war ...
a white-haired man's gaunt face
in the window glare
FYI: University of California, Riverside/UCR study, April 17, 2023: [Cumulative] Poverty is the 4th greatest cause of U.S. deaths: Only heart disease, cancer, and smoking were associated with a greater number of deaths,
