Cheesehead
Poet Dale K. Nichols lends some rhyme and rhythm to the pro-democracy movement. Proceeds from paid subscriptions go to support pro-democracy organizations.
Welcome to this premium edition of Never Trump Poetry available only to paid subscribers. Never Trump Poetry is brought to you by poet Dale K. Nichols and editor Michael Broder. Today’s premium poem riffs on the election-buying efforts of a man in giant cheese hat.
Dale K. Nichols
Cheesehead
over $19 spent for every vote he got $21 million dollars in all and every cent for nought a poor return on investment on an all-in mislaid plan a Wisconsin referendum on a ten point losing hand hey there, Mr. Cheesehead what do you say to that? like your Teslas, they’re not buying it Wisconsin smelled a rat
Editor’s Note:
As reported in the Daily Beast,
Elon Musk set down his “chainsaw for bureaucracy” on Sunday to put on his cheesehead hat as he handed out $2 million to voters in Wisconsin’s tightly contested Supreme Court election.
At a Green Bay rally for Republican candidate Brad Schimel, Musk appeared on stage wearing the cheese-shaped headwear so near to the hearts of Packers fans and rank-and-file Wisconsinites alike, leaping into the air—his signature jump—before signing the cheesehead hat and tossing it into a cheering crowd.
As reported by AP News, the election on Tuesday, April 1 for a 10-year term was won by pro-democracy candidate and Dane County circuit judge Susan Crawford, who beat Schimel, a Waukesha County circuit judge and a former Republican attorney general, by a 10-point margin. Crawford’s decisive lead—a departure from the norm in battleground Wisconsin—buoyed the spirits of pro-democracy Americans nationwide.
—Ed.
About the team
In the words of Dale K. Nichols, Poet
Whatever I might feel about the merit of particular aspects of the MAGA agenda, I believe that Trump, as the movement’s standard-bearer and chief instigator, is a clear and present danger to the future of America and our way of life. That we the people decided to elect him to a second term points to certain dark undercurrents in our nation’s psyche that had been pushed to the shadows for decades until they were recently coaxed back into broad daylight. For those of you who are Harry Potter fans, I believe that Tom Riddle has reemerged as Lord Voldemort, and we Muggles are in the midst of an ugly Wizarding War that has already suffered many casualties.
In the words of Michael Broder, Editor
I started Indolent Books in 2015 as a haven for poets over 50 without a first book and a welcoming literary space for women, people of color, queer and trans writers, and others who do not fit molds or conform to expectations. I am drawn to Dale’s ability as a poet to reach a general readership with his message of resistance to autocracy and his activist support for democracy. While I am indeed a Harry Potter fan, my pop-culture metaphor for the Orange Menace is Burgermeister Meisterburger, the sadistic, oppressive, and abusive mayor of Sombertown who despises toys—and will arrest anyone who plays with or owns a toy—in the classic 1970 stop-motion Christmas television special, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.