Bruce Niedt

De Stijl (The Style)

It was the best of art,

it was the worst of art.

It was nature reduced to 

Its barest simplicity—

perpendiculars, straight lines,

intersecting, primary colors,

composition distilled

to its most basic elements.

It is the best of times, 

It is the worst of times,

depending on who you ask.

I suggest a new flag 

that resembles Mondrian’s 

Composition No. II,

with Red and Blue,

white with bold black lines

describing five quadrilaterals, 

a square and a rectangle filled in—

one red, one blue, 

corner to corner, no overlap,

to represent what we feel to be 

the thick borders of our beliefs,

the irreconcilable compartments

of our ideologies.

Portrait of Trump in the Colorado Statehouse

Of course, he complains about it —

he may have preferred the pumped-up superhero

from one of his digital trading cards.

But he has a point.

There’s the feathery hair, the flag lapel pin,

and the trademark long red tie,

but it’s too warm and fuzzy, too soft-focused,

like a blurred-edge pastel, and that makes

his portly image even more rounded.

Sir, with all due respect,

you could have done so much worse.

Shall we review your gallery of caricatures?

Or perhaps your mug shot, which looks like

a Gotham villain about to blow up City Hall?

There is one detail of the painting I like,

and that’s the mouth, an almost perfect

horizontal line, lipless, that one could call

Resting Despot Face. It’s a precious moment,

one in which you are not shouting, grimacing,

lying, pontificating, whining or insulting,

but perfectly neutral, silent, as though someone

has just told you to shut the hell up.

List for Surviving These Times: A Sonnet

One: Stop harping that this world’s gone to hell.

Two: Find a good cause. Join it. Send money.

Three: Mail a card to Congress. Say, “Get well!”

Four: Be nice. You catch more flies with honey…

Five: Try to get others to see your side.

Six: Paint a sign with a pithy slogan.

Seven: Join a march and protest with pride.

Eight: Start a podcast. (Not like Joe Rogan!)

Nine: Play some music that inspires you.

Ten: Take a break from social media.

Eleven: Lose the funk that mires you.

Twelve: Get facts. (Not just Wikipedia.)

Thirteen: Seek shelter. There might be a storm.

Fourteen: Build a fire. Keep yourself warm.