wanted to love it. didn't. ( )

Folk singer Tom Paxton refers to them as "short shelf-life songs" -- bits of doggerel referencing current events, but relegated to mere curiosity status years after the fact. (My personal favorite Paxton SSLS deals with President Carter and a swimming rabbit.) Actor John Lithgow has done the same thing with the ousted 45th President and his various tantrums, peccadillos, felonies, and overall government-by-tantrum.

Lithgow takes on such subjects as the rapid turnover on Trump's staff, the Border Wall, hookers, foreign intrigue, and nepotism. He helpfully provides notes at the end of most of the verses, reminding us (sic transit gloria mundi) who these players were -- some of them flitting across the public stage so briefly that we've already granted them wll-deserved oblivion.

Written before the 2020 elections, this slim collection probably won't be around too long, but it's amusing enough for a quick read. ( )

John Lithgow has two poetry books satirically following Donald J Trump’s presidency. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2nd book as the better of the two and more relevant to my knowledge of the events. I relished the sketches that accompany each poem. In this first book, the explanation following the poem too briefly explained the event. A nice distraction from a bleak and rainy day. ( )

John Lithgow is a man of many talents! I had no idea he was so good at political humor/satire, and that he draws pictures, too. These verses are all funny and clever and very current. Some are original, while others are based on classics from nursery rhymes ("Trumpty Dumpty wanted a wall/To stir up a rabid political brawl") to Edward Lear (the Owl and the Pussycat becomes "The Walrus and the Kleptocrat"--John Bolton and Vladimir Putin) to Gilbert and Sullivan ("An Ex-Lieutenant General" instead of a Modern Major General, a verse about Michael Flynn) and so on. There's even some Rodgers and Hammerstein lyrics rewritten ("My Favorite Lies" sings "Trumpty Dumpty"). This is a very clever way to get your politics on, and there's some great wordplay. The illustrations are cool, ink line drawings in political cartoon style. A note after many of the poems explains who the people are that are referenced, and why they made the news. Many things about the Trump presidency just can't be made any funnier, but this book does just that. ( )

Trumpty Dumpty wanted a wall
To stir up a political brawl
His Republican rivals, both feckless and stodgy,
Succumbed in the end to his rank demagogy.