Wednesday, April 5, 2023

A Day Of Service (Trump's Booking), a poem. Indran Amirthanayagam

 A Day of Service (Trump's Booking)


He used to be president. He said once

he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue

and shoot a man and he would walk away

free. Today he was arraigned for paying

off Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about

their past affair while he campaigned

to take the oath and lead the country

through what turned out to be a series

of ruinous events, including the dying

of millions during the pandemic.


He entered court, seeming befuddled,

did not say a word, then left and drove

in a motorcade along the BQE, swept

ahead by the police, to the hangar

where his 757 waited to fly him back

to Florida. Meanwhile, his lawyers

bemoaned the “unfair” charges

while in Washington today a group

of Latin American exiles visited

to plead their arguments about Venezuela,


Nicaragua and Cuba before the OAS 

and State. They came by car from Miami, 

a much longer trip than the rich man Trump's.

I met them at the State Department's

door, allowed them to take a photograph

with the flags, and just outside, to raise

their own banner and denounce tyranny

in their homelands. I felt I had been

of some service, opened the door

to the ordinary citizen, one of whom


had spent almost five years

in a Havana jail, for charges related

to assembly and speech. I am not

a Little Havana republican. But

I will denounce crimes when

committed and without discriminating

against any perpetrator, including

the free-shooting 5th avenue huckster

turned ex Commander in Chief,

Mr. Donald John Trump.



Indran Amirthanayagam, c) April 4, 2023