Awake!Awake! Poem by Doug Lane

Help me understand
how a cowardly con
and his Bottom of the Barrel Gang
holds a nation
of people 200 million times
smarter and more upright
than he and his
spellbound.

Is it some
dizzying
political ju jitsu?
Does he keep
leveraging his way
to chaos
because he has
a magical nose
for Ur-Amurka's buttons?

Did he learn
to find
Amurka's
point of balance
on The Apprentice?
Or during a lifetime
of long cons?
Or both?
Is it all
grift,
hypmotizm,
prestidigitation,
smoke and mirrors?

Are we entranced,
stuck in a dream
state
from which
we have not yet awakened?

And when we finally,
with a snap of the fingers,
do,
if we finally do,
will we grin
ear to ear
with relief
that the nightmare's over,
the spell's broken,
and shake our heads
in disbelief
at the monstrous
twists and turns
the spellbound mind
can take?