day TWELVE HUNDRED and SIXTY EIGHT

President Dunning-Kruger

When he pardons the guilty
air-kisses the despots
circles Southern states in black
spells wiretap with two p's
slings insults instead of solutions
and treads hard across a tender ground—
don't worry, it's nothing,
just the Dunning-Kruger effect.

When he tells his generals
he knows more about war
when he tells his cabinet
he knows more about the world
when he tells the boiling globe
the sick and dying, the ventilated
the crowds without masks
he knows more about everything
than anyone else alive
hey, no worries—
it's the Dunning-Kruger effect.

When the incompetent
cannot recognize
their own incompetence,
and inflate their intelligence
ignorant of their ignorance

when the skills to identify
what's lacking

are lacking

remember, it's okay—

it's just the end
of the democracy
the rest of us
understand.

--Mickey Corrigan

NOTE: The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs in those with substantial deficits in knowledge or expertise who also lack the ability to recognize these deficits. Thus, despite potentially making error after error, these individuals think they are performing competently when they are so obviously not.

BIO:

Originally from Boston, Mickey J. Corrigan writes Florida noir with a dark humor. Novels include Project XX about a school shooting (Salt Publishing, UK, 2017) and What I Did for Love, a spoof of Lolita (Bloodhound Books, 2019). Kelsay Books recently published the poetry chapbook the disappearing self. Poems have appeared in many literary journals, online and in print.