by J.D. Smith
“Donald Trump may have some controversial political views, but as the above video shows, the 69-year-old presidential candidate (and aspiring movie star) has great taste in film — even if some of his cinematic interpretations are a bit unconventional. Long before he was the star of NBC’s The Apprentice or the unlikely leader of the Republican presidential primary, Trump was a mere celebrity billionaire, which gave him time to participate in a mini-documentary project with Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris. The Fog of War and The Thin Blue Line director spent five days in 2002 with a litany of celebrities and dignitaries, filming them as they talked about their favorite movies. . . . One interview that didn’t make the final cut was Trump talking about his favorite movie, the 1941 classic Citizen Kane.” —Jordan Zakarin, Yahoo! Movies, Sept. 9, 2015.
"The Movie Movie, an aborted project [by filmmaker Errol Morris], is based on the idea of taking Donald Trump, Mikhail Gorbachev and others and putting them in the movies they most admire. Isn't it possible that in an alternative universe Donald Trump actually starred in Citizen Kane?" —Errol Morris: Aborted Projects
Rosebud
Who burned his sled? That would explain
The wisps of hair coiffed like a mane,
The name writ large on thrusting towers,
His rating of his works and powers.
Who wouldn’t take up his refrain?
A loser, say, without a brain
And envious he can’t obtain
Fresh wives imported like cut flowers.
(Who burned his sled?)
A nation may endure a reign
Of fire once tended with some pain
Outlasting its appointed hours
Yet starved, for all that it devours.
The question holds fast like a stain—
Who burned his sled?
J.D. Smith’s third collection of poems Labor Day at Venice Beach was published in 2012; his first humor collection Notes of a Tourist on Planet Earth the following year.. His poems have appeared in journals and sites including 99 Poems for the 99 Percent, Nimrod, Tar River Poetry, Texas Review, and Dark Mountain 3.