Poem: "The Problem with Pence"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the June 6, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by Shirley Barrette.


"The Problem with Pence"


The problem with Trump
is that he isn't as smart or
as popular as he likes to think.

The problem with Pence
is that he loves power, but
his position leaves him forever
just a pace behind it.

Pence shares Trump's ideals
but not the overweening charisma
that can charm the gullible.

Riding on the coattails of greatness --
even if it's a great deal of trouble --
Pence finds himself not in the seat
of power but crouched in a stage

with his hand up the hole of
an orange-haired sockpuppet
that talks a lot but says very little.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

* * *

Notes:

The original sock puppet is a toy, but its style has inspired the metaphor of a person talking through a fake persona.

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Comments

[thnidu]

More the problem for Pence. "The problem with X" generally refers to some problem that X (be it person, object, event or other intangible) causes for (other) people