Second Coming No. 479 — May 13, 2026
A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by Donald Trump and his fascist regime
Dale K. Nichols
Ode to a Gold-Leafed Ego
O towering statue! Loftily ye rise
above Doral his country club domain
and Mar-a-Lago where truth goes to die
on high ye fist-defiantly shall reign
in dazzling brilliant gold-leaf covered bronze
commemorated evangelically
by Pastor Burns with prayers to sacred Don—
his likeness not a golden calf says he
with cellphone lifted to the microphone
so worshippers attending all can hear
the words of Trump transmitted—he alone
the object of devotion they hold dear
all praise their savior foremost, first and last
no greater symbol could there ever be
near martyrdom thy figure nobly cast
his ego’s galling gilded legacy
Dale K. Nichols is poet-in-residence at Never Trump Poetry, a poem-a-day series on Substack edited by Michael Broder. His poems have appeared in Pan-O-Ply and The Avocet. When not writing, Nichols is an amateur woodworker, a board member at an environmental land trust, a musician, and a volunteer in the wooded dunelands of Beverly Shores, Indiana, where he and his wife, Nancy, now live in retirement.
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