Putting Lipstick On a Pig: An Impressionist Biography of Richard M. Nixon in Eight Haikus

1

Richard Nixon sleeps
The little girl on fire
Visits his dreams

2

Mass murderer, liar
Paranoid war criminal
But he’s not a crook

3

And Richard Nixon
Must have to stand naked
So sang Bob Dylan

4

America ends
Among the flashlights in the
Watergate Hotel

5

Nixon in China
With Kissinger on the ground
Spiro left in charge

6

Chanted in the streets
Vietnam Cambodia
He tried to kill me

7

Nixon waves goodbye
Pat and Tricia try to smile
Nightmare is over

8

Many years later
Yorba Linda, black marble
Dancing on his grave

Eight Haikus for Richard Nixon

1
Richard Nixon sleeps
The little girl on fire
Visits his dreams

2
Mass murderer, liar
Paranoid war criminal
But he’s not a crook

3
And Richard Nixon
Must have to stand naked
So sang Bob Dylan

4
America ends
Among the flashlights in the
Watergate Hotel

5
Nixon in China
With Kissinger on the ground
Spiro left in charge

6
Chanted in the streets
Vietnam Cambodia
He tried to kill me

7
Nixon waves goodbye
Pat and Tricia try to smile
Nightmare is over

8
Many years later
Yorba Linda, black marble
Dancing on his grave