Like Edgar Allan Poe
Anastasio Somoza attended West Point
only 50 years later. Both learned the art
of Empire building. Yet Poe is
expelled for boozing & gambling,
not for being a pro-slaver.
In the end, Dixie, where he's dragged
from one polling place to another,
earning booze for each dead
man's vote. Until he collapses,
implodes, damn near explodes
at Ryan's 4th Ward, 1849.
He's buried alive in a Baltimore cemetery!
He should be so lucky.
Poe's buried in an unmarked
pauper's grave.
Take Somoza: he can fuck grown women
& hold his liquor. Not puke during torture.
Somoza & Sons never lost an election.
Not with Presidents Roosevelt, Truman,
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon,
Ford & Carter in their corner.


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First GRIST On-Line publication, December, 1996. © 1996 Maggie Jaffe