zumpoems

Zumwalt based the following poem on these headlines:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/05/02/bizarre-string-of-trump-posts-includes-photo-swimming-shirtless-in-dc-reflecting-pool
https://www.salon.com/2026/05/03/an-arch-bigger-than-the-arc-de-triomphe-hitler-wanted-that-too/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fact-check-trump-did-post-175725413.html

Reflection

Our President, the best ever,
holds a hand of infinite possibilities,  
smiling over six Uno wild cards
long after I have gone to sleep.

Our leader, shirtless, in the reflecting pool
on a gold inflatable throne
with his buddies, but he looks the best:
youthful, trim, with a charming smile.
He knows how to use AI to glorify!
Such a cool communicator!

Maybe he can post an AI photo
of a reopened Strait of Hormuz—
that should scare the Revolutionary Guard.

Ramesses built a palace with
four stone Ramesses,
towering sixty-five feet
facing the Nile.

Nero built 
a rotating dining room
and a lake
where a city used to be.

Kim Jong-il erected himself
in each and every airport lobby,
every schoolroom wall:
watching,
always watching,
magnificent,
thin.

And now we are finally catching up:
The 250-foot Donald J. Trump Triumphal Arch,
The Donald J. Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
Trump-class battleships,
Trump Visas for the wealthy,
Trump Coins, Trump Bills, Trump Passports,
The Trump Presidential Library,
which will be the greatest library
anyone has ever seen.  

The reflecting pool
will be American flag blue,
industrial grade.
Not granite. Not ugly grey.
True Blue!

He posts a picture of his own face
beside Mount Rushmore,
so even Hakeem Jeffries could understand.

Germany says the Americans have no strategy.
But our President holds all the cards.
The pool will be blue.
He removes troops from Germany
teaching Europe, Africa
who is really the boss.

Brent crude is $129 a barrel.
Just like the stock market,
it keeps going up!
JD Vance is shirtless.
Marco Rubio is shirtless, grinning.
They are all in the water.
The greatest deal ever.
So much better than the worst deal ever—
the Obama deal he walked away from
with its costly inspectors
and wheelbarrows of money carted in.

Some moan and bitch,
like my neighbor John,
complaining about the price of gas.
I wrote a letter to the FCC
to kindly ask them
to take care of John  
after they shut up Jimmy Kimmel.

My leader posts himself holding a gun,
dominates Mount Rushmore,
sits in his gold inflatable chair
while the others,
all shirtless, all grinning,
know best how to tread water.

The pool is six feet deep at the center.
The pool will be American flag blue.
The administration is in the water.
Not underwater.
Not sunk.
But if they do sink, I’ll gladly follow
down deep, deep, and deeper,
proudly breathless blue,
with water in my ears, mouth and lungs.

— zumwalt (5/5/2026)