Ken Waldman

Trump Sonnets: Volume 6 (His Middle Virus Soliloquy) Ken Waldman

Poetry. Wednesday morning, November 9, 2016, sitting in his car, listening to the news, Ken Waldman took out a notebook and wrote that this guy is going to make George W. look like a statesman. A few days later he turned that line into a sonnet, and by mid December had written 70 more, enough for a book. Titling it TRUMP SONNET VOLUME 1 was one of the jokes. Most of the poems were in the president-elect's voice, and though it was broad satire, Ken Waldman later sold a few copies to Trump supporters. That was another of the jokes.

Six months later he'd written VOLUME 2. Half of the poems were dreams Waldman imagined Donald Trump having. The other half, commentary. A year later he wrote VOLUME 3, THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION, with imagined voices from 72 countries. Another year, VOLUME 4, THE SHRUNKEN SOUL EDITION, a single unnamed day of sonnets, many in Trump's voice. The others were in voices from his orbit. That might have been enough but for COVID-19. Quarantined in rural Virginia, spring and summer jobs canceled, Ken Waldman again started writing in Trump's voice.

VOLUME 6, HIS MIDDLE VIRUS SOLILOQUY is where Catch-22 meets Hunter S. Thompson. Says Paul Fericano in the book's Afterword: It's Allen Ginsberg's HOWL on Thorazine with a loaded gun. Ken Waldman says that this is a continuation of his work as engaged citizen.