12 10.20.
No matter who
you are or what
you’re trying
to accomplish,
you will
inevitably
confront the
specter of
Trump, drifting
into the frame
in a cloud
of disorder and
bad vibes.Illustration by R. O. Blechmangig. But Trump’s way of lurching into a
room is inseparable from his propensi-
ty for creating chaos and obliterating
meaning. ‘‘Thank you very much, thank
you very much,’’ he booms as he steps
into the United Nations lobby. He seems
to be addressing this thanks to everyone
in the room, as if all those present have
just burst into applause. (They haven’t.)
He is merely Being Trump, doing what
he does when he shows up anyplace,
whether it’s a meeting of the Group of
7 or a wreath- laying commemoration at
Arlington National Cemetery or a Super
Bowl party at Mar- a- Lago: subjugating
the entire purpose of the event to his
own ego and id. It is a demeanor that
announces that if anything is going to
get done today, it will happen in spite,
probably in defi ance, of the president of
the United States.
Trump wound up attending the cli-
mate meeting for about 15 minutes.
There were more pressing matters to
attend to. He posted on Twitter a dozen
times that day, including tweets mock-
ing Mitt Romney, Joe Biden and Adam
Schiff. He also directed a trolling tweet at
Thunberg: ‘‘She seems like a very happy
young girl looking forward to a bright
and wonderful future. So nice to see!’’
We are not ‘‘all Greta Thunberg,’’
but all of us know what it’s like to be
ambushed by Donald Trump. He pops
up on your social media feed with hateful
words and impulsive policy announce-
ments. He fl ickers on TV screens in bus
terminals and airport departure lounges,
forever looming over your shoulder. He
barges unbidden into your dreams. It is
a condition of being alive in America in
- No matter who you are or what
you’re trying to accomplish, whether
you’re a 16-year-old working to save
the planet or an ordinary citizen trying
to make it through the day with some
peace of mind intact, you will inevitably
confront the specter of Trump, drifting
into the frame in a cloud of disorder and
bad vibes. Even the president’s most
dedicated enablers scan the sky wari-
ly, awaiting today’s cyclone, the next
reckless, capricious twist of the plot.
The door swings open, the president
enters, all heads turn. The camera whips
around, and suddenly, everything else
— better angels, higher ideals, common
decency, common sense, beauty, truth
— blurs into the background.
One of poetry’s most appealing elements can be its mixture of observations. How do these
things go together? someone might ask. David Romtvedt’s poems in ‘‘Dilemmas of
the Angels’’ often contain a tangible moment or two, then something startling or surprising
drops in. Th ese poems of layering counterpoint feel a lot like the world — a person
standing on a street corner watching others move by, each in his or her own universe, and
then there are the plants, and the ants, and the birds, and the machines, and objects
that give the people gravity — and the intentions — where will the people pause next?
Why did the birds fl y too soon?Screenland
Poem Selected by Naomi Shihab NyeTaking Leave
By David RomtvedtThey no longer come to my door but I see them on the street,
these young men who travel together in black slacks
and white shirts, name tags announcing them as elders.I watch them pass on their bicycles,
also black, with backpack straps fl apping,
wings working hard but too small.This morning I found two robins — nestlings who leapt
too soon and fell or were dragged from their home —
nearly featherless with ants in their empty eyesso that as the bicycles disappear down the street,
I grow younger and younger, a child on tiptoe
waving at those who go before me into the world.Naomi Shihab Nye is the 2019-21 Young People’s Poet Laureate of the Poetry Foundation in Chicago. Her
most recent book is ‘‘Th e Tiny Journalist.’’ David Romtvedt is an emeritus professor of creative writing at the
University of Wyoming and the author of more than a dozen books.