Tag Archives: Iliad

OR CONVERSELY, IF HOMER HAD
WRITTEN DONALD TRUMP

Sorry to say,
your text, though
possibly exceeding all
expectations
could not ascend to
the the whiter than reality
of driven snow

let him
    be insufferable, insist
on correction, extractions
with a sharpie
(thing he wields as if
Achilles’ great spear)

meanwhile the critics
seem majorly underwhelmed
by what
    the script has
shown them

believe Aesop, Aristophanes
might have contrived
a more believable plot.

meanwhile the great sagas
of your contributions
at Troy
    are filtering through,
crossing the seas
to spite
   Poseidon

of your
great fraternal connection
and military alliance
with the Cyclops
Polyphemus

your insistence
that the horse of infiltration
be
aircraft-
carriet large

already whispers of
these epic
achievements
reaching
    the ears of young Penelope
(in our
rendition old
enough to
    be your daughter)

every day
down
   at the harbour
here in Ithaca
dreaming of, longing for,
dreading
        your return

making her sacrifices
to Aphrodite

has a (had to have a)
secret life she daren’t (under
any circumstances)
tell you about.