After the 2025 Presidential Inauguration

The charlatan bilked them
Out of what they’d said was sacred.
The lion's teeth specialize in cutting meat.

The swindler tossed them Bounty towels
& paper mâché roses.
He promised excursions

To a glorious but fanatical past
That they’d cherished lifetimes
While Machiavellian deception

Supplants manifest truth.
No borders are drawn between lies
For noble or ignoble self-gain:

FHA low-cost houses & GI loans,
Zoning laws keep the despised at bay,
Away from milk & warm honey,

Bumble bees, & apple blossoms,
Away from self-knowledge & safe streets.
The grifter promised what they sailed

Nautical miles to possess.
By any means of deceit or brute force.
Carnivorous lions eat meat & only meat.

Drill baby, drill until
We reach amber-entombed blooms.
Deceit is a tool for power.

He promised that to which blood flowed,
Over plains & as fire-red rivers.
That which caused volcanic grief

During the middle passage voyages.
Bodies thrown overboard fertilize seaweed.
That from which flags are made,

Stars & horizontal stripes,
Stitched by enslaved fingers,
Defrauded birthright:

Segregation now,
            Segregation tomorrow,
                        Segregation forever.

Ominous winds howl through fire-blackened trees.
Lions use incisors & canines to attack.
C-suite rejoices like space aliens

Newly landed with bulbous heads.
Social equity (DEI) initiatives
Capsized at Walmart, Target,

Micky Ds, Ford, Lowe’s, X, Air Force,
Harley, Bud, New Balance, Time Warner,
Rite Aid, KFC, Michelin, Victoria's Secret,
Overstock, Hush Puppies, & Mickey Mouse.

                        Strike.
            Strike.
Boycott

Shut ‘em down like when we walked & carpooled.
The dying mule kicks hardest.
Joy lives in refusal.

Joy is when we quit.
Joy is sabotage.
Joy is a wild pansy garden in purple,
The fleshy-hued carnation,

& the daisy eye that opens
In the morning & close at night
In an ecosystem where bees are gardeners.

All ponder the lion’s teeth.

March 17, 2025