Penny Ante

the partisan populism
of post-truth perspectives
are chump change in value
if seismic in history

and artisan pantheism
of non-sooth collectives
are trump-mange infected
schizophrenic and gristly

“I don’t need your civil war”
higher loyalty I’ve already sworn
not power without compassion
but love, self-sacrifice, and hope in action

national theater
enriching a few
penny ante promises
to dirty masses
tickling ears,
filling swollen bellies,
promising lies,
delivering gases

Poetry Scales 206