Artwork © Eric N. Peterson

 

“Remember This Day Forever,” DJT

He implores his devotees to walk with him, to meet at the capitol.
He solicits them to risk life and limb at the capitol.

Confederate flags, Nazi memorabilia, a noose dangle nearby—
the scene, devastatingly dark and grim at the capitol.

He admonishes them to show strength, for weakness never wins.
This insurrection must be more than a passing whim at the capitol.

He urges his disciples to never concede to stop the steal,
We fight for Trump and hang Mike Pence—battle hymn at the           capitol.

He appeals to them to carry out patriotic duty; he will protect them.
They fight like hell, while he hides in his inner sanctum, not at the capitol.

They beat and torture police officers, threaten to kill elected officials.
They maraud with righteous anger and indignant vim at the capitol.

Through the halls broken glass, blood and feces permeate,
yet the lights of justice refuse to dim at the capitol.

By early morning the people’s choice for president is announced,
democracy again drapes its solemn scrim at the capitol.

His attorneys tell us this throng acted on their own.
He never planned for hostility to boil or brim at the capitol.

For years I witnessed rallies and tweets cultivate hate among his base,
presaging this savage attack incited by him, only him, at the capitol.

 

A lifelong New Englander, Laurie Rosen’s poetry has appeared in The Muddy River Poetry Review, The London Reader, Oddball Magazine, Zig Zag Lit Mag, Gyroscope Review, Wilderness House Literary Review, The New Verse News and elsewhere.

Eric N. Peterson is from Atlanta, Ga. He’s been drawing cartoons all his life. He leans towards the absurd, imaginative, and the surreal, as that’s where all the flavor is.