April is National Poetry Month

The following was in the Saipan Tribune on April 30, 2018. It seems I was focused on William Shakespeare and obsessed with POTUS 45 in the last week of that month. Previously published in the Saipan Tribune: On April 23 of that year, W.S. Sonnet 116, my parody, I Don’t Accept Marriage of Truth; W.S. Sonnet 130, my parody, My Tax Returns Will Never See. On April 24 there was ‘A trilogy of original Trump Twitter Tales: 1. Deconstructing Drumpf’s Delusions of Grandeur, 2. Trump Tweet Tales, Some Tomes and Poems, 3. Congressional Movement or Lack Thereof. On April 26, a trilogy and an acrostic: 1.Impeachment or Resignation 2. Put in Trust…Trump a Bust!, 3. The Odium of Trump at the Podium ( more loathing, lies, and insults to despise) ; and 4. an acrostic for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren who told U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell when he said “Yield the floor”: “I have no intention of yielding,” McConnell said ( and my title): Nevertheless She Persisted. Finally I ended the month on April 30 with: Double Vision Derision, Shakespeare’s original Sonnet 29 and two parodies of it: 

Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heav’n with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state, 
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate.
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

When in Disgrace With Fake News…
(A parody of W. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29)

When in disgrace with fake news and lying media’s eyes
I throw childish temper tantrums about my outcast state
I grow bald and round in size and tell many more lies
too blind with presidential power to ascertain my fate.
Wishing only for more golf games and riches I hope
to use my smarts, the ‘stable genius’ that only I possess
conspiring with V. Putin and Russian oligarchs scope
what I enjoy most is being out on my own golf course.
Despite my being so smart there are some still despising
instinctively I think of me and my Secretary of State
with the price of Middle East oil per barrel then rising
from Saudi Arabia up to the Northern Arctic Gates
liquid largesse for me increasing my wealth and bling
that then I know I am “believe me” an American king.

My Presidency in Disgrace
(A parody of W. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29)

My presidency in disgrace in the nation’s eyes
I all alone tweet my confused state
and trouble the generals with baby boy cries
so sad I’m not Making America Great.
Wish I was like that man from a place called Hope
articulate like him, a policy wonk and computer nerd
desirous of his ability to speak and cope
instead I belittle and insult others with every word.
Yet in these thoughts filled with self loathing
I think of money and how much I’m making
and obstinately fold my arms inside my clothing
continuing bombastic demagoguery and faking.
For bling and bucks remembered on this occasion
dispel thoughts of going to prison for tax evasion.

Joey ‘Pepe Batbon’ Connolly (Special to the Saipan Tribune)
Joey aka Pepe Batbon is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is a sonnet practitioner who enjoys stargazing.