Poems of Outrage in the Trump Era || Cheryl Caesar

A short history of mirror

I
Mirror. Hear how the word
echoes itself and fades away.

II
Six thousand years ago, obsidian,
or black volcanic glass, was polished
to yield reflections of human faces,
in what is now Turkey. The ancient Egyptians,
the Greeks and Romans, burnished copper
and bronze. Precious metals that melt and harden,
and the strange artifacts of Ararat.

III
Narcisssus, though, preferred
his pool of infinite depth
and endless refractions. He leaned
forward, reaching for that one perfect
and unattainable image, fell in and drowned.

IV
Glass mirrors appeared
in the third century A.D., in Gaul,
Germania and Asia. And glass gave us
that most interesting mirror, the window
with darkness beyond, which offers
our faces with new shadows, mysterious
and important.

V
Amidst the Victorians, wise little Alice
went through the looking-glass only to find
that grownups are all mad on the other side,
wandering foolishly around
the tidy chessboard of her mind.

VI
In the 1960s, the Man of La Mancha (not Cervantes’ Don)
was destroyed by mirrors, flashing light
in his eyes, showing him his feeble body
and demented face.

VII
Now we have selfies and Photoshop instead.
The new Quixote, Don of Orange, trims his pudge
and lengthens his fingers. Look at me! he boasts,
the way I really am! But are they looking? He flips
through channels, seeking that elusive image
that keeps receding, even on Fox and Friends. He reaches.
Now he’s leaning, leaning…



Press Conference in the Rose Garden

“She’s shocked I picked her.” Sniggers. “She’s in shock.”
“No, Mr. President. I’m not. Thank you.”
“I know that you’re not thinking. Never do.”
He smirks and turns his torso to his claque

Awaiting the applause for this new schlock.
I’m rubber! says the President. You’re glue!
I’m the elite! Your favorite! The new-
Style presidential! Listen to me mock!

Beelzebub! When will our exile end?
When do the grownups come to save us? What
Will bring back Piggy and the conch? We’re stuck

On some demented playground, and pretend
To see a clothèd emperor, and not
A gibbering madman, naked in the muck.



The SOTU slant

Tell all the truth but tell it slant --

• Emily Dickinson

Nancy Pelosi leans into the clapback,
head tilting, lips firming to an off-center smirk.
Joshua, the bullied Trump boy, dozes off,
head lolling sideways.
AOC slumps, arms folded, and gets called a sullen teen.

All enacting with their bodies
a country out of kilter.
All of them, human spirit-levels.

Like that scene in “East of Eden,” where Elia Kazan
tilts the camera back and forth
as Adam forces Cal to read the Bible.
Dutch angle, as they call it.

Soon we will take the set back, put it straight.
Till then, we are the camera.




Wheels and Walls: A Villanelle for the Shutdown


The wheels in his head go round and round.
His tiny hands make circles in the air,
And the walls come tumbling down.

Three weeks the government has been shut down.
An empty threat, and only meant to scare.
But the wheels of consequence go round and round.

The mouth is moving, but we mute the sound.
He rants and raves, but we no longer care.
The dead white eyes go round and round.

Behind the orange greasepaint, the sad clown
Peers from beneath a shell of lacquered hair.
As the walls of privilege come tumbling down.

The ship of his mind has run aground.
Each time he shuts his eyes, he visions there
The final wall where traitors are gunned down,

And handcuffs, while he thought to wear a crown.
His dying words will be, “It isn’t fair!”
The wheels in his head go round and round
And the walls come tumbling down.





The State of Emergency Speech: A Trio of Triolets


Emergency Triolet no. 1: The Wall

“We don’t need the military. ‘Cause we would have a wall.” tRump in the Rose Garden, 2.15.19

We don’t need the military.
‘Cause we would have a wall.
Wipe out the Spangled Fritillary.
We don’t need the military.
Leave animals no sanctuary.
Just build it big and tall.
We don’t need the military.
‘Cause we would have a wall.



Emergency Triolet no. 2: Trade with China

“It’s going extremely well. Who knows what that means […]” – tRump, 2.15.19

It’s going extremely well.
Who knows what that means.
The farmers can go to hell.
It’s going extremely well.
Say, doesn’t my hair look swell?
Soy’s just a bag of beans.
It’s going extremely well.
Who knows what that means.




Emergency Triolet no. 3: Angel Moms and Dads

“I said, ‘That’s too bad, it’s too bad, it’s so sad.’ Stand up just a second. Show how beautiful your girl was. Thank you.”

• tRump uses bereaved parent as ten-second prop, 2.15.19.

That’s too bad, too bad, so sad.
Killed by folks who shouldn’t be here.
Stand up, Mom. Show photo, Dad.
That’s too bad, too bad, so sad.
But you showed up and I’m so glad.
Even though you don’t have to be here.
That’s too bad, too bad, so sad.
Killed by folks who shouldn’t be here.


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