Given Over to the Pettiest Rancor by Jennifer Lagier

At night, paranoid Donald

snorts cocaine,

grows agitated,

imagines humiliating

then snuffing detractors,

blots out insecurity

with juvenile tweets.

 

He possesses a two-year-old’s

unfiltered hair trigger temper.

Could easily start

World War III

because of personal insult,

bloated self-importance,

uncontained ego.

 

We are hostages

unwillingly trapped

inside a pirated

ship of state,

rudderless,

engines blown,

at the tipping point

to slip under water.

 

Jennifer Lagier has published thirteen books, taught with California Poets in the Schools, co-edits the Homestead Review, helps coordinate Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium Second Sunday readings. Newest books: Scene of the Crime (Evening Street Press), Harbingers (Blue Light Press), Camille Abroad (FutureCycle Press). Forthcoming: Like a B Movie (FutureCycle Press, 2018). Website: : : Poetry by Jennifer Lagier : :