David Huddle: My Presidents

The nation formerly known as the United States of America has revealed its new name –– Trumpiana Unum Aeternitas.

          —Fox News, June 22, 2022

.

Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy,

Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush,

Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump–

                              but please, please,

don’t let me die on this president’s watch!

But how about a twofer? Take me out, God, 

but take him, too. No? Okay, I get it,

even under the okay presidents, we were

all about money, helping the rich, kicking

down the poor, and either killing black people 

or putting them in jail. So this one is what

we deserve. After he gets a war and a recession

going, he’ll arrest our children and hold them 

hostage until we’ve praised him sufficiently 

and denounced all the other presidents.

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Copyright 2019 David Huddle

David Huddle’s ninth poetry collection, My Surly Heart, will appear from LSU Press later this year.