Reputation is what other people know about you....
Honour is what you know about yourself.
Lois McMaster Bujold

This was The Clue of the Snake in the Hollow Book.
It’s only a vignette...the one where aggressive, friendly
Middle aged men walk Larissa to her car. She is calmer.
She likes to hear us talk about farming and carpentry.

Her first love is ruined for her by beatings.
Glenn and I were her guards in spring and summer
Before and after work through P&G factory parking in Hamilton.
What does this mean now: Larissa? For us,
A thrill: young, smart, loving, flushed and excited; with
The exhaustion of giving more than she had.

It meant beauty and living with a beautiful boy:
She loved his fierce flatness and fiery boredom.
  
Night classes at McMaster University
She asks another student to walk her to her car.
She says, “Before this happened I was headed for medical school.”


Paul Anthony Hutchinson
www.paulanthonyhutchinon.com
Copyright Paul Anthony Hutchinson

As National Security Adviser
H.R. McMaster walks out the door,
A hungry hawk circles the White House.
Watch it dive; watch it soar.

The hawk has a name: John Bolton,
Conspiracy theorist of long standing;
Reckless, far-right ideologue.
In April the hawk will be landing.

Bolton, who's openly advocated
Preemptive nuclear war with two
Countries--Iran and North Korea--
Will glide in and land on cue.

Once a leading cheerleader
Of the war in Iraq, Bolton, whose theory
Is war first, diplomacy second,
Should cause the rest of us to be leery.

Pushing military involvement
And advocating change of regime
Would only encourage the president
To set in motion a dangerous scheme.

In 2013, Bolton uttered
Words that show where his loyalties lie
As he hailed the new era of freedom
In PUTIN's Russia! What a guy!

So Bolton nested near the president--
A man whose ego couldn't be bigger,
Who doesn't follow judicious advice
And has his finger on the trigger--

Makes the whole world feel uneasy.
How scary could things get?
Prepare yourself for turbulent times
Because you ain't seen nothin' yet.

-by Bob B (3-23-18)