Dec 2016
Villanelle of East and West
by Michael Blumenthal
Kaczynski and Orban, Trump and Le Pen
Each with a mission, each with an ego
Can’t put the old world together again
Try as they might with the sweep of a pen
Four of them now where an unlikely three go
Kaczynski and Orban, Trump and Le Pen
Not one of them ever a student of Zen
Though all are quite likely to call you amigo
They can’t put the old world together again
The prisons are full, the courts a playpen
Dictators armed with a deep pocket veto
Kaczynski and Orban, Trump and Le Pen
Each has a story— of now and of then
Oh, where can we flee to?— Puerto Rico?
They can’t put the world back together again
Kaczynski nor Orban. Trump nor Le Pen.