In the Time of Avian Politics
By Josh Nicolaisen
Attempting to influence opinions
and implement policies
through terse tweets,
it’s clear he sees
himself as the
great golden eagle of
social media,
and America.
Sure, bald would be
more appropriate and
more patriotic,
but don’t we know
appropriateness is
apart
from his concerns
and that the
narcissist would never
ignore gold, nor
allow himself to
be paired with a word
like bald
with such negative,
albeit alternative,
connotations?
Plus, we all already
saw how the
white-headed raptor
reacted to him
prior to his
inauguration.
After just a few months
of following his feeds
we’re sure he’s a predator
but no raptor at all.
Lacking the right skills,
he’s surrounded himself
with generals, and though
he wishes he were a hawk,
he’s more like a preposterously
self-indulged peacock
presumptuously poised
to strut its stuff for an
ever-attentive audience.
An immature and
inexperienced rooster
who can’t secure his flock-
staffers starting to run
from our cock-of-the-walk,
his racist agenda,
and his hate-filled talk.
A raven screaming
and squawking
with no end in sight,
set only on its own story;
adding shrill to silence
for its own sorry plight.
A vulture vociferously
pushing violence
and vending cheap hats,
while working to keep us
fighting each other and
scrounging for scraps.
No, he’s no eagle,
and no robin, wren,
or sparrow with some
sweet songs to sing.
We should now see he’s
a sort of scarlet ibis
or rotting albatross
hung round the neck of the nation,
a disgusting and daily reminder
of what we’ve done
and how far we still
have yet to come.
Josh Nicolaisen has taught English in both public and private schools for more than ten years. He spends summers as a caretaker on Squam Lake’s historic Chocorua (Church) Island and lives in New Hampshire with his wife, Sara, and their daughters, Grace and Azalea. Josh has poems in Underground Writers Associations’ anthology The Poets of New England: Volume 1 and Indolent Books’ online project What Rough Beast.
Photo credit: Book Man Film via a Creative Commons license.