THE MAGICIAN

by Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard

We are surrounded by a cold fog,

not just in the mountains,

but in our country where the facts

are turned upside down, where ordinary

citizens become scapegoats and a woman

in a restaurant screams at a woman

on another table for wearing a headscarf.

The fog obliterates our vision, shelters

anger and the man who waves his wand

everywhere like a magician pulling

tricks out of his hat and the crowd that

applauds for he will provide jobs

for everyone, make our country

strong, provide security, and bypass

institutions the crowds believe no longer

serve us while the political parties

disagree among and within themselves

and like Weimar the crowds believe

the magician will push aside the “elite”

and solve all of their problems.

* * * * *

Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard is the author of 9 poetry books, two of which have won awards, as well as a number of non-fiction books on women and human rights, (Revolutionizing Motherhood; the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) human rights, social justice, illness and grief. She is a former professor of Political Science and Poetry, and currently a Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Studies Program Brandeis U. Her latest collection of poems is The Flame of Life (Human Error Publishing, 2018).