first suggested the wild
turkey as a national symbol.
Implication freights
avian analogies.
Do we soar above it all
or scratch subsistence
from the duff?
But here we are, fluff
obscuring reality
like a cock fight dust-up,
a veritable he said she said
fouled nest of twisted
meanings, scam worthy
of perhaps the greatest
flim-flam artist
of a generation knowing
his constituents are clicking
their remotes to another
channel, mimicking
the ostrich, head buried
in the sands of distrust,
internal voice mumbling
fake news fake news fake news
hoping for the next
commercial break trip
to the fridge where
an eagle eye spies
that left over piece
of American pie.
--
After a newspaper career, Eric Chiles began teaching writing and journalism at colleges in eastern Pennsylvania. He is the author of the chapbook "Caught in Between," and besides Disturb the Universe Magazine, his poetry has appeared in such journals as Blue Collar Review, Canary, Gravel, Plainsongs, Rattle, Sport Literate, Tar River Poetry, and the Voices Project.