Vacuum-packed Verbosity
(after the sonnet style of Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin)

The half-black woman now assures us
that as Vice President (four fears)
she’s learned that Empathy’s what cures us
(a crocodile cries better tears).
She says the Orange Man lacks contrition,
he mainly reeks of pure ambition,
and unlike she who loves our land
he’s there for purchase on demand.
She “was” and “is” and “will be” “being”
"what" and "who" and "when" who knows?
But she’s "been" where the "going" "goes"
and "seen" what "shows" that "sight" means "seeing".
Such emptiness "is not" a gag.
If not for “modesty,” she’d brag.

Michael Murry, "The Misfortune Teller," Copyright © 2024