The 40 poems in "The Death of Democracy" deal with the utter catastrophe the United States faces if We, the People allow an unhinged narcissist to rule America at a time when the survival of our species and our planet demands immediate, decisive, and rational action.
Donald Trump admires Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and other ruthless despots. He is charged with 91 felonies. He is a sexual predator who boasts about groping women, paid "hush money" to a porn star to cover up his illicit affair, and was convicted in a civil court of rape.
He scoffs at the rule of law. He has stated he will build concentration camps and use the military to stifle dissent. He has stated he will seek revenge on his "enemies," everyone who disagrees with him, and on "vermin," Hitler's term for Jews and other minorities, and his term for migrants and those whose blood he personally considers impure. He threatens bloodshed if anyone stands in his way. He has laid out plans to dismantle our government and destroy the foundations of democracy. All of this is overwhelmingly well documented!
These poems do not simply chronicle Trump's misdeeds, foul intentions, and failings, and foul intentions. Some, especially those written while he occupied the White House, employ wit and satire to make their points. And since it's not Trump's fault alone that our country has slid down this slippery slope, other poems slice and dice the home-grown oligarchs who pull the strings, the "billionaire class." It is they, with a boost from the Supreme Court, who have funded America's drift to the right since Ronald Reagan infamously declared "Government is the problem." Still other poems attack and mourn environmental carnage driven by rapacious capitalism., or dwell on war, its enablers, and its outcomes.
David Hedges is an Oregon poet, author, and political, environmental, and social activist. His 10 previous books include poetry, memoir, and fiction. He is on the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, served for six years as president of the Oregon Poetry Association, co-founded the Oregon Poetry Collection at the University of Oregon's Knight Library, and received the Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award from Literary Arts, Inc. for his contributions to Oregon's literary life.
