day TWELVE HUNDRED and EIGHTY NINE

Too Much and Never Enough

Covid 45’s family
lore reveals

young Donald
acting up
at dinner table

earning a
mashed potato
bowl dousing
from older
brother Fred
a person perceived
as inferior by
young Donald

To be made the object
of derision
still a sore point
66 years later

Still reacts to
criticism with
defensive posture:

hunched shoulders,
crossed, clenched arms,
hurt child scowl,

All too familiar to us
who have seen
way too much of
his face

--Alan Catlin