For Whom the Bell Tolls, Follow the Polls

Once there was a country where the tension
of the polls was practically a life
or death condition, stuck in a dimension
of the dictatorial. A knife

is hanging above the heads of everyone,
they know – because it’s based on precedent –
that if the popularity of a son-
of-a-bitch imposter of a president

descends below the 50th percentile
they can expect a terrorist attack,
his ratings going up again. A reptile
who allows the worst and that’s a fact.

The population had to concentrate
on levitating public opinion, knowing
what would happen, what would be their fate
if it should drop: another plane is slowing

down and turning, headed for a tower,
the Air Force under orders to ignore it,
and he’s re-elected. Naked power
grabbed the Constitution, terror tore it.