Mephistopheles...

© 28 November 2020, the Griot Poet

“All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.” Frank Herbert, author of Dune

 

Twitter is finally flagging his gaslighting,

No-less-than “created realities.”

Karl Rove, and,

Knock-off Yosemite Sam

“The Room Where it Happened,”

John Bolton has told Baby Huey,

It’s time to throw in the towel.

 

But that wouldn’t be foul!

He has to go out in the manner and style that he came in: trolling,

Anti-Zen Buddha’s bizarro meditations, 140-character foils,

Are always composed from a golden toilet,

After cheeseburgers and flatulence,

As amazing as this chagrin:

We were “lucky” to have had him!

 

Because: the next authoritarian completely understands their audience.

 

Mike Pompeo is a Harvard graduate and evangelical.

So is Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton,

Don’t forget “little Marco,”

Or, Mr. ALEC, Ohio Governor John Kasich, who supported Joe Biden for president,

And, let’s not forget “Brundle-fly” Mike Pence!

Each man plans to run for president,

Trading in their klan sheets for Armani three-piece,

Will try to rehabilitate evangelicalism: making it “great again,”

On-point, and convincingly kissing white, Anglo Saxon Protestant cisgender babies,

And “ride this birther Kraken.”

Ridden by Orange Satan to power,

And the right-wing echo chamber,

Starting with AM Talk Radio,

That has lied to its constituents,

For four decades,

 

73 million Americans are the byproducts of 40 years of programming by hate radio,

Alex Jones,

Dark Internet sites and state TV Fox propaganda.

They all decided to, despite the evidence, in the words of Tom Nichols, vote for the sociopath.

 

Trumpism is just modern-day buncombe speeches,

To practically empty chambers, but not beyond the reach

Of staff reporters from the Congressional Globe,

For consumption by constituents back home,

Enraging them about northern overreach,

Into the institution of slavery,

We’ve been where lies and propaganda leads,

 

Chanting manically “build the wall”; “lock her up”; “you will not replace us”; “blood and soil” like a scene from Orwell’s “two-minutes hate,”

That, for all intents and purposes, is their “base.”

 

The next authoritarian will seem reasonable.

 

He, it’s always a “he,” will be skillful, adept,

Perhaps a Harvard graduate,

With the bonafides of being,

A white, Anglo Saxon Protestant cisgender male,

With more skill than court jesters tweeting

Middle school insults,

Or, openly courting strongmen and tyrants,

 

Reagan is a paper saint,

He started the birth of this dragon in Philadelphia, Mississippi,

Blocks from where Cheney, Goodman, and Schwerner

Were KKK-murdered,

For registering black Mississippians to vote,

 

When you cannot win a popular vote, you probably won’t want people voting like Paul Weyrich.

You might restrict election boxes In Texas counties,

Or, in California by fiat: outright steal them!

Which is why the Georgia runoffs are so significant,

We have to put our shoulders behind Warnock and Ossoff,

Grit our teeth from every incessant text message and tweet begging for money: it’s grassroots - you and me - versus corporate dollars.

That’s the trade-off!

I give them ONE dollar,

Every time they ask,

Because in my mind: I’m multiplying by hundreds of thousands of respondents,

350% matched!

 

Democracy isn’t something we do every four years,

Democracy is something we HAVE to do every year: every DAY!

The fascists aren’t going away.

And, their preening Ivy League toadies are sucking their teeth,

Waiting like ghouls for their opportunity,

Like they’re sifting our meat and gristle,

Off our corpses,

E Pluribus Unum!

 

We don’t get a break because authoritarianism and fascism will never take one,

 

Remember how we couldn’t stand George W. Bush,

And, the lies HE told to get us in Iraq?

He’s so rehabilitated his image, in comparison,

He’s more acceptable to speak at the funeral of Civil Rights icon John Lewis,

Than our current Oval Office occupant,

 

Heed this:

The next authoritarian will ride this Kraken,

The next authoritarian will exasperate our factions,

 

The next authoritarian will make us swoon for these “halcyon four years” because

 

The next authoritarian will likely, not be a buffoon.

Wish...

 © 24 November 2020, the Griot Poet

My wish,

Is for all of you to have a safe Thanksgiving,

Because I want you in the land of the living,

 

We have a clear cause-and-effect,

Hacking COVID loogies in six feet distances,

The economy is teetering on a total wreck,

Sick Mexicans can’t pick fruit and vegetables,

Ill frontline African Americans can’t resurrect you during intubation in a pandemic,

 

My wish,

Is that you take all precautions:

Wear a mask, wash your hands; socially distant,

Keep a mental list of where you’ve been,

THINK about someone other than yourselves:

It’s called empathy.

We used to have this patriotic sympathy,

 

In WWII, we had “Meatless Tuesday,”

When all Americans - Asian, Black, Hispanic, White,

Picket fences and redlined, urban blight,

Went vegan for one day a week,

To fill the C-rations of GI’s overseas,

 

My wish,

Is this holiday,

We recall the sacrifices of Americans in the “greatest generation.”

That by racist designs didn’t agree with each other,

But did agree to take on Adolf Hitler,

The Japanese Emperor,

And Mussolini,

 

The Rat Patrol was an urban myth,

The British SAS was the basis for this,

But the mythology recalls a time

Even with constructed barriers: we can DO this!

 

My wish:

 

Wear a mask, wash your hands; socially distant,

Keep a mental list of where you’ve been,

We’re still not in 2020,

Where we should be,

We’re better now than back-of-the-bus then,

We did it before,

We can do it again.

Baby Huey...

 

Vintage Cartoons, Ed Naha, Pinterest

Inspired by Laine Thompson, AKA "Lost in Thought"

© 21 November 2020, the Griot Poet

It’s sad, really:

We are coddling the tantrums of a sociopath,

“America’s Mayor” is in an illicit scene in the second run of Borat,

Ending a chaotic presidency,

And, any claims after 9/11 to legitimacy, or his legacy,

At a press conference between a crematorium and a porn shop,

Almost sounds like a plot from “Animal House,”

Sweating hair dye that should have dried,

Lying about election conspiracies,

Using every racist, Jewish cabal trope

For an audience of ONE sad narcissist,

 

It’s sad, really,

Orange Satan is more concerned with the 30+ frivolous lawsuits,

Than hospitals overrun with the sick and dying,

Patients suffering from heart attacks, strokes,

Broken arms, or welcoming newborns into the world,

Bigger cities like Austin, Houston, Dallas, or Greensboro have dedicated COVID wards,

Rural Americans might be lucky if they have 20 beds, ONE doctor and a nurse,

All stretched to their limits, and overworked,

THIS is how he treats the people who statistically were more likely to have VOTED for him!

 

It’s sad, really:

We’re giving “Childish Gambino,”

The epitome of white, Anglo Saxon Protestant, Cisgender male privilege TIME: to “process” his loss,

His fake toupee is finally its natural, rat gray,

His embarrassing orange spray tan tossed,

As our death-to-infection-rate is 2.5%,

Translation: at 12 million, that equates to 300,000 future deaths projected at no low cost,

 

It’s sad, really,

Because the United States

Is now known infamously as having the HIGHEST death rate,

Of ANY western nation,

Because he refuses to concede he lost this election,

Because he exists in a universe impenetrable to science, poetry, or knowledge,

He’s ironic, in his desperation, trying to invalidate the undemocratic electoral college,

To stay away from accountability and the rest of his life in prison,

 

It’s sad, really,

Any parent trying to remove a toddler from Chuckie Cheese could have predicted this,

His consigliere, Michael Cohen, testified to this,

He’s pulling troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq,

That will leave billions of dollars in equipment for our adversaries to hack,

While other G20 world leaders,

Including Vladimir Putin,

Are on a Zoom call to solve the Coronavirus problem,

Mr. Five-Deferment, six bankruptcies and, over two dozen accusations of sexual assault,

Is on his 302nd round of playing hooky-golf!

 

What’s REALLY sadder than this:

Seventy-three million Americans wanted to “make America great again.”

Quoting Saint Reagan and terrorist klansmen,

Because they can’t stand the thought of a black president, or

A female, biracial Vice President, or

Change,

Progress,

Reducing income inequality,

Universal healthcare, like other western countries,

Alternative energy,

Solving climate change on the only planet, we have ever known that is in distress,

 

73 million Americans cheered for fascism, evil, chaos, and white, Anglo Saxon Protestant, Cisgender male privilege,

 

Are ALL living in this alternative reality WITH him!

Diwali...

 

What is Diwali? 'Festival of Lights' Celebrates Triumph of Good Over Evil, Jenni Fink, Newsweek

© 15 November 2020, the Griot

We have a Vice President-elect,

That can speak to this from lived experience,

Bringing with her our first, second gentleman,

She’s Jamaican-South Asian; he’s Jewish American,

Making “the melting pot” more exquisite,

 

“To the millions of Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists celebrating the Festival of Lights, @DrBiden and I send our best wishes for a #HappyDiwali. May your new year be filled with hope, happiness, and prosperity. Sal Mubarak.”

 

We get this from the President-elect,

Opposite this,

 

The petulant child in the Oval Office is tweeting,

Conspiracy theories, because his time is fleeting,

As his judicial immunity leaves him,

 

January 20th at noon,

NY State Attorney Letitia James,

Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance,

SDNY and EDNY,

All get their chance,

 

To file requests for his taxes,

Which were never under perpetual audit from the IRS,

We’ll find out he’s a creature of fiction,

Conjured by the producers of “The Apprentice,”

The last four years felt like four centuries,

Inching over the precipice to an authoritarian apocalypse,

 

73 million Americans voted for him,

Which means we have our work cut out for artists and poets,

Teaching science, history and civics,

To a hostile crowd willfully oblivious,

For continued coexistence, we have to press through the lies and gaslighting to do this,

 

We ALL have a Festival of Lights to celebrate,

We caste out an apostate ingrate,

That plans the end of his only term,

He thinks being carried out bodily by the Secret Service,

Will be dramatically distressing, but

Won’t bother me any more than his signature,

“You’re fired,” applied karmically to him.

Y'all Qaeda...

 

A March Without Millions is Still a Worrying Sign of a Nation Divided, Hannah Allam, NPR

© 13 November 2020, the Griot Poet

Slipshod,

Bank shot,

Slap box,

Keystone Cops,

 

Million MAGA March:

Boogaloos,

Proud Boys,

KKK and Neo-Nazis,

POST Charlottesville,

 

Showing up for “stop the steal” rallies,

When they could give a rat’s ass about democracy,

73 million of them despite the evidence,

Voted for the sociopath,

 

In 2016, they had the excuse

Of not knowing he wasn’t as obtuse,

Emoluments he hadn’t yet abused,

They voted for him then despite hearing him on Access Hollywood,

81% of white evangelicals and 53% of white women voted for the pussy-grabber, and white supremacist,

 

They’ve had four years to observe him,

His over-the-top statements; his slurred speeches,

 

His

 

Slipshod,

Bank shot,

Slap box,

Keystone Cops,

 

Magical thinking, name-it-and-claim-it, “rounding the corner”; “it will all magically go away soon.”

Norman Vincent Peale

Yin-Yang

Plan with no plan,

The closest thing he’s come to Zen,

 

On not managing a global pandemic,

His obfuscations so myriad, to reach Olympic status,

Simultaneously achieving entry in the Guinness Book of World Records,

And his soon-to-be unique entry in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,

 

What’s more disappointing,

Are the 73 million citizens,

After Jewish synagogue shootings,

That after attempted Muslim banning,

After El Paso, Walmart massacres,

After ripping children from parents fleeing violence,

From “Birth of a Nation” to “The Apprentice,” it is as Woodrow Wilson said, “history written with lightning,”

After 250,000 dead Americans:

Do they want MORE of this?

Diss...

 © 7 November 2020, the Griot Poet

You, sir, are a piece of orange shit,

Though that’s unfair to the color orange,

As human feces, your feckless tan is Billy Ruben,

As quipped by malignant narcissist Hannibal Lector in “Silence of the Lambs,”

You’re not too far off the mark of that,

A fictional depiction of a malevolent villain,

Except, he was intelligent

 

You’re tweeting more like a lunatic since you lost,

Nina Simone said, “Mississippi got damn,” man,

For actual lawsuits, you have to have evidence,

And that’s not the voices in your head!

Not conceding isn’t winning,

It’s a traditional formality,

It’s not even necessary,

According to The Constitution and Nancy Pelosi,

 

Concession speeches are reserved for classier acts,

Than an adult Baby Huey, that’s never had pushback,

Since your wealthy parents,

Didn’t want to be bothered with your ass,

 

And sent you to Cornwall Military Academy,

Upstate New York enclave

For rich naves, like your parents

That didn’t want the embarrassment and ridicule of,

Turning you over to the juvenile criminal justice system,

 

No one’s ever told you just to shut UP,

Go back to the golf course, buttercup,

I doubt you’ve ever been spanked, or in time out,

You’re a septuagenarian infant,

Who has never been disciplined,

 

So, after six bankruptcies and five draft deferments,

What made you think you could gaslight a pandemic?

Norman Vincent Peale’s “power of positive thinking.”

Has about as much effect on it as the laws of physics,

Which are inherently invariant,

And dismissive of self-hypnosis/auto-suggestion,

In the case of science: “it is what it is,”

 

Which is why you surround yourself with idiot sycophants,

Impervious to information that would change your stubborn stance,

Your third chief of staff surrendered to this menace,

Karma paid him recompense,

 

But repetition is effective when managing cult members,

Whose spell is broken with your losing,

All the violence hinted in dark musing,

Has bled into the background and back under the rocks it emerged,

Because going out in a blaze of glory for you isn’t worth it,

 

You tweet like a lunatic loon,

You waste taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits,

Delaying your inevitable prosecution,

The money you stole, paid back to whom it’s due:

 

“We the people, of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, secure domestic tranquility. Provide for the common defense; promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of Liberty, to ourselves, and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.”

 

Which you will no longer abuse!

Violence...

 © 8 November 2020, the Griot Poet

We currently worry about violence:

The night riders by Nathan Bedford Forest,

Reimaging as the Ku Klux Klan,

Are to this day STILL not listed as domestic terrorists,

After Union troops removed from the south,

No longer protecting newly freed Africans, newly Americans,

 

We currently worry about violence:

And forget the churches,

That would leave services,

To “picnic”: pick a negro,

Castrate, hang and burn them,

Sell souvenirs and trinkets,

Made from body parts

And postcards with the blessings,

Of their so-called pastor in view.

 

We currently worry about violence:

But we don’t think of counting marbles, bubble and poll taxes,

Meant to disenfranchise the descendants of freed Africans,

From expressing their voice at the ballot box,

And, by extension, access to legitimacy and power.

 

We currently worry about violence:

Snatching children from their families fleeing violence is heinous,

The Coronavirus pandemic is violence,

Homicide by psychotic negligence,

Yet, 70 million voters added to the roles WANT this!

 

We currently worry about violence:

Militias liberating Minnesota and its government of its governor,

AR-15s at voting precincts,

We don’t think about the violence of taking freed prisoners’ rights to vote after serving time spent,

Then the state of Florida slapping poll taxes on them,

Or, closing polls to the right to vote in black, indigenous, people of color precincts,

Or, splitting college campuses to dilute the votes of youth,

 

We currently worry about violence:

We do not see the violence around us.

Unfit...

 

Pinterest link

© 31 October 2020, the Griot Poet

“Jarred Kushner is the patron saint of unqualified white men,”

His grades, nor his SAT said he could be at Harvard: he failed up,

To a JD and MBA

At New York University,

 

His father Charles sentenced to prison,

By the New Jersey DA, Chris Christie,

Rightfully for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering,

Married the privileged daughter of a privileged son,

Like him: lucked out in the sperm lottery,

 

So, he’s okay with his orange orangutan father-in-law,

The patron saint of abject morons, who believe conspiracy theories,

Or, that The National Inquirer is high literary commentary,

He thinks tweeting like a racist loon is an aerobic activity,

 

He left supporters to freeze in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and roast almost to death in Florida,

 

“Sociopathy refers to a pattern of antisocial behaviors and attitudes, including manipulation, deceit, aggression, and a lack of empathy for others.

 

“The defining characteristic of the sociopath is a profound lack of conscience—a flaw in the moral compass that typically steers people away from breaking common rules and toward treating others decently. This disconnect, however, may be hidden by a charming demeanor.” *

 

That LAST part, we don’t have to worry about,

 

Both are revealed sociopaths,

From Bob Woodward’s “Rage” tapes,

To Mary Trump’s “Too Much, and Never Enough,” you can’t escape

230,000+ deaths,

9.2 million Americans infected,

91 million votes cast BEFORE the election,

 

They are Bizarro twin clones of “The Omen’s” Damien Thorn,

Jared looking like the Hollywood little horn,

With property at 666 5th Avenue, under tremendous stress,

Bailed out “accidentally” by Qatar, no less,

 

The orange stooge similarly,

Propped up by his klansmen daddy,

Now on the hook of Vladimir Putin,

Who runs this country, through him, remotely,

 

With every call (every ONE) not in the presidential readout,

For phone calls to Moscow

We’re all paying for,

 

He’s fomenting uncivil unrest,

Boogaloos and Proud Boys pumping their chests,

Fearing genetic Armageddon,

Arming for war, rather than penis extensions,

Which, I think a better idea than insurrection,

 

Donald and Jared,

Are either “confession, or projection,”

According to John Heilemann,

Scion sociopaths,

Both narcissists; full of contempt and wrath,

 

For the tribe of Troglodytes who follow them,

Merrily down this fascist path,

Collapsing a nation under the weight of its unrepentant sins,

Saying “we’ll be rocking by summer,”; calling chaos a win,

 

The US, like Rome, is crumbling within,

From the leaden weight of white privileged,

Assholes I wouldn’t trust to carve a pumpkin,

 

Both, despite being blithering idiots,

Won the sperm count lotto,

Whose gene pool stopped evolving LONG ago,

Failed up all their lives, colossal dimwits,

Their ineptitude makes them entirely unfit.

 

* https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/sociopathy

Game...

 

Pinterest link

© 31 October 2020, the Griot Poet

RAP is an acronym: rhythm and poetry,

The soul that a spin master fills empty beats,

That kept the party rocking instrumental treats,

Heavy D - may he Rest In Peace,

Said it was our “CNN of the streets,”

 

Born of it, like Italian opera,

Telling the triumphs and tragedies

About black life in American autocracy,

Woke words born from the tragicomedy,

Of blues in Ménage et toi

With jazz and soul,

 

Until corporate sociopaths took control,

And gave us larger-than-life minstrel shows

On BET and MTV,

Reinforcing assigned depravity and misogyny,

 

You want to know WHY

Kanye, Ice Cube, 50 Cent, and Weezy

Peep his game and throw in with the platinum plan?

 

They ARE him!

 

Not-quite-white skin? Check.

Sporting women and rims? Check. Check.

Are they lying about their assets? Triple check!

 

They find in Orange Satan a kindred spirit,

Hell, Ye wants to run for president!

50 wants to double his value and exchequer,

Cube ain’t made a movie in a minute,

And Weezy - who always looks like Stripe from “Gremlins” - has been hitting WAY too much purple drank/sizzurp,

 

He, like them, is a facade: an amalgamation,

Of showrunners, scriptwriters, and yes men,

One saved from perilous business instincts and absolute oblivion,

To the others, forsaking artistic responsibility, producing abominations,

That makes their grandparents cringe,

 

RAP is an acronym: rhythm and poetry,

The soul that a spin master fills empty beats,

That kept the party rocking instrumental treats,

Heavy D - may he Rest In Peace,

Said it was our “CNN of the streets,”

 

Minstrels moving from the field to the big house,

Getting a taste of riches and crystal,

Become brown-skinned colonizers,

No different than the Sambo sellouts,

Who whipped our backs and snitched our escapes with Harriet Tubman to master,

 

Managed by MBAs and yes men,

That pepper the right percentage of niggers, bitches, and hoes,

In lyrics, like soul music, that USED to empower,

Proven repeatedly by the MBA’s dark calculus thesis,

To make an album go double-platinum,

Neuro linguistically programming,

Another generation for mediocrity,

 

Rhythm and poetry is our “CNN of the streets,”

Heavy D - may he Rest In Peace,

These minstrel clowns would cause him grief,

 

Not another “CD baby,” Amazon purchase, or ninety-nine cent download should proceed,

Squeeze their exchequer, and watch greased pigs squeal,

 

Since they live for Mammon: let their demon FEED them!