Chen-ou Liu's Translation Project: First English-Chinese Haiku and Tanka Blog

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Inciter-In-Chief

(Authorial Note: I re-organized two haiku sequence, Just Another Day in the Land of the Free and To the Reality Show That Will Indeed End in a Week into this new sequence whose title was taken from a The New Yorker, Jan. 9 article, written by David Remnick


We will never give up, we will never concede. You'll never take back our country with weakness! You have to show strength! -- "twice-impeached president," Donald Trump

From inflammatory words come violent actions -- on the steps of the Reichstag and now in the Capitol. -- Germany’s Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas

morning chill
a river of floating
MAGA hats

noonday sun
Do the right thing, a twist
to the President's mouth

a smiling white man
waves the Confederate flag
Capitol hallway 

her bloody handprint
on Nothing Can Stop Us
gathering dusk

FBI most wanted 
a silhouette in the window
of the Oval Office

Trump Impeachment
the border wall higher 
than the setting sun



Note: The following haiku sequence was originally published on Jan. 11

To the Reality Show That Will Indeed End in a Week

chill gray dawn
Trump etched into the back 
of a manatee

FBI most wanted 
a silhouette in the window
of the Oval Office

Trump Impeachment
the border wall higher 
than the setting sun

FYI: "US Fish and Wildlife opens investigation after Florida manatee found defaced with 'Trump' scratched into its back," Elinor Aspegren, USA Today, Jan. 11; "Donald Trump is the accelerant: A comprehensive timeline of Trump encouraging hate groups and political violence," Fabiola Cineas, Vox, Jan. 9; "Trump to visit border wall in Texas — his 1st appearance since U.S. Capitol riots," Steve Holland,  Reuters, Jan. 12.