by Pepper Trail
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| Art by Terry Graff at Michael Moore Substack |
No word is savored with such relish
by those infantile, strangely moist lips
forever yearning, reaching for the teat
of unconditional love, with the infant’s
single-minded greed, the belief that
he alone is the center of the world
his demands alone must be met and
whenever he cries and always and now
Such a different word, in his mouth
than “agreement” or “treaty” and with
no implication of cooperation or respect
but only the self-satisfied smirk of the
bully standing over his helpless victim
surrounded by worshipful sycophants
among whom, you can be sure, stands
his next choice for public humiliation
For him, the art of the deal is deceit
the goal of the deal is domination
the result of the deal is not some benefit
some lasting accomplishment or legacy
– see his casinos, his hotels, his “university” –
but only the “win,” his claim of victory
and the wreckage he leaves behind
is just what’s coming to suckers
To those who took his deal somehow again
who chose to join the bilked investors, the
ex-wives, the abandoned students, the unpaid
lawyers, the discarded loyalists and now the
NATO nations, the Ukrainian people, the career
scientists, the medical researchers, the firefighters
and park rangers and the entire world economy
this is what you get: you must lose so he can win
That’s the deal.
by those infantile, strangely moist lips
forever yearning, reaching for the teat
of unconditional love, with the infant’s
single-minded greed, the belief that
he alone is the center of the world
his demands alone must be met and
whenever he cries and always and now
Such a different word, in his mouth
than “agreement” or “treaty” and with
no implication of cooperation or respect
but only the self-satisfied smirk of the
bully standing over his helpless victim
surrounded by worshipful sycophants
among whom, you can be sure, stands
his next choice for public humiliation
For him, the art of the deal is deceit
the goal of the deal is domination
the result of the deal is not some benefit
some lasting accomplishment or legacy
– see his casinos, his hotels, his “university” –
but only the “win,” his claim of victory
and the wreckage he leaves behind
is just what’s coming to suckers
To those who took his deal somehow again
who chose to join the bilked investors, the
ex-wives, the abandoned students, the unpaid
lawyers, the discarded loyalists and now the
NATO nations, the Ukrainian people, the career
scientists, the medical researchers, the firefighters
and park rangers and the entire world economy
this is what you get: you must lose so he can win
That’s the deal.
Pepper Trail is a poet and naturalist based in Ashland, Oregon. His poetry has appeared in Rattle, Atlanta Review, Spillway, Kyoto Journal, Cascadia Review, and other publications, and has been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net awards. His collection Cascade-Siskiyou was a finalist for the 2016 Oregon Book Award in Poetry.
