Frank D. Roosevelt

chirps Tatum O’Neal

says we’re all family now and

crafty pink Winston

says he’s a bottle of champagne and

while swells of his own station

dismiss him as

that man

he keeps getting elected

by those not affronted enough

to banish his name from the tongue

and even to them

he seems jovial.

 

It makes sense somehow

the mystery of his popularity when

seeing him with the little black shadow

following him around or

on his lap as he drives

that car with the pedals on the wheel and

he trills the name

that jumps from the tongue

part of a Christmas song.

No shadows without a sun.

 

The Navy guys make accommodations

on great trips of massive import

an officer to escort

while the old man is summiting

below decks they would speak of it

long after the darkening days

how little shadow arrived in 1940

along with one much bigger

and more ominous.

 

-Danny Grosso