“They Mustache Him Some Questions” by Steve Henn

Steve Henn

THEY MUSTACHE HIM SOME QUESTIONS

“Impeachment investigators are in talks with a lawyer for John Bolton about bringing the mustachioed former national security adviser in for a closed-door deposition …”
—New York Times Impeachment Briefing

… the hairy-lipped former Bush White House insider
is expected to be candid in his smudge-faced, hoary-mouthed
assessment of the Trump White House. He of the hirsute
nose-ledge battled with Trump on several issues, not the least
among them the policy on North Korea, with their
sickeningly clean-shaven and weak-shouldered dictator, and also on
Iraq, who for years we could rely on to broadcast the sweet,
sexy ’stache of Saddam “the human Rom Com” Hussein.
The follicle-face-feathered family man is a favorite
of conservatives—when he bites the corn dog
of Trump’s mishandled Ukraine situation don’t expect
one dollop of ketchup to be saved for later to savor
in the flavor-saver above his upper lip. Bolton
has appeared on Fox News, gaining him traction with
conservatives, who turn to his bountiful ’stache, his
regal, manly ’stache, whenever the cleanshaven face
of our own Baby Hitler disappoints them. In other news
our Tinfoil Hat Commander in Chief claims he’s comparable
to Lincoln, as if donning a tophat and calling oneself honest
is just as mustacherrific as saving the union, and freeing the enslaved.

from Poets Respond
October 27, 2019

__________

Steve Henn: “When I saw in the daily emailed update from the New York Times that the writer took pains to refer to John Bolton as ‘mustachioed,’ I couldn’t help but imagine the scribe behind the story had some strange and silly fixation on facial hair. I used to write in a satiric mode a lot, and don’t nearly as often now, but I do like the idea of taking the wind out of the sails of self-aggrandizing heads of state with well-placed ridicule. A second story, earlier this week, noted what’s mentioned at the end of the poem—that our President is fond of telling everyone within earshot how much he reminds himself of Abraham Lincoln—even his poll numbers, he says, are better.” (web)

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