THE MAN ON TOP

by Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard

Immigrants, especially Muslims, are vicious snakes

who will inevitably turn on their protectors

he pronounces, inventing enemies, his words

            a scepter that banishes

disagreement from his minions, erases thoughts.

             His emptiness is surrounded

by nobodies who engage in repetition. Photos

             of him exulting, scatter

like leaves in the wind. They are everywhere.

            His game shuffles

us like cards; thousands of little children

            who crossed our border

in search of safety remain separated from

            their parents, weeping,

and imprisoned in warehouses and cages.

            Like a whirling top

he keeps changing his phrases, But all will be

             well he repeats.

 We will have national security, we will be

             great, forgetting

 that history, suffering, and guilt are circular.

            Targeting discourse,

has eclipsed our thoughts and evil is in love

             with its plots, sees them

like business deals, and to speak out against

             them is a great risk.

* * * * *

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).