The Oracle Mouths Off, Part One

Be careful what you wish for.

Okay kids, here it comes. You voted for obscure pronunciations about the Future, more specifically the upcoming American election; and, ever happy to oblige, I am hereby providing some.

This is a picture of me playing Tiresias the Annoyingly Always-Right Seer in the Theatre of War’s online production of Antigone.

But first, let us remind ourselves about the limitation of the Oracle’s powers. 1) Though the Past is single, there are many, many possible Futures. 2) Here are the definitions of “Oracle.”

1.     A shrine consecrated to the worship and consultation of a prophetic deity, as that of Apollo at Delphi.

2.     A person, such as a priestess, through whom a deity is held to respond when consulted.

3.     The response given through such a medium, often in the form of an enigmatic statement or allegory.

Keep your eyes on #3 as we wend our tortuous ways through some possible futures.

In the Land of Mad Kings

For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground /And tell sad stories of the deaths of kings;/How some have been deposed; some slain in war, /Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed, /Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed, /All murder’d ….

–Shakespeare, Richard III

The assasination of Caligula by some of his own Praetorian Gurd. Jury’s out as to how mad he was, but he certainly annoyed, offended, and alienated a great many people.

Henry VI, if not raving mad, certainly feeble. Power vacuums at the top are dangerous for those in the vicinity. Deposed, imprisoned several times in the Tower. Probably murdered.

Charles VI of France, “The Glass King,” who thought he was made of glass and wouldn’t let anyone touch him, lest he shatter. Killed four of his own knights in a fit of paranoia. Didn’t reign very much. He was kept as a figurehead, but the real power was held by a bunch of venal nobles who exloited their offices for their own benefit. Political chaos abounded as one faction vied with another.

King George III of England: this pic is from Alan Bennet’s stage play, The Madness of King George. He wasn’t assassinated, but he was “supervised,” and a regency was installed.

Robespierre is executed. After having purged all his opponents, got his way, and led the Festival of the Supreme Being, he seems to have had a sort of breakdown, and returned from it very paranoid, calling for more Terror, and prepared to denounce yet more of his former colleagues. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, they beat him to it. So ended the bloodiest phase of the French Revolution.

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So those are the choices, according to history, if you are a Mad King or even if enough people think you are: you’re assassinated, you’re executed, you’re deposed, you’re imprisoned, your realm is ruled by others. Big power struggles ensue. How could it be otherwise?

It’s Choose Your Own Adventure time. Pick A or B.

A: Trump wins the election. But he clearly doesn’t have both hands on the steering wheel, so there will be a big power struggle between the Trumpites and the Vance-ites, because you can’t have a country operating in slipshod chaos, or so you’d think, and so the Vance-ites would think. You also can’t have a space with two such large egos in it at the top. a) Trump wins the power struggle, and Vance is sent off to sell seashells by the seashore, or some other harmless task. His supporters are neutralized. A regency of sorts composed of Trumpites is installed. They run things and pilfer as Trump declines further into the inherited dementia that plagued his father. b) Vance wins the power struggle. Congress is encouraged to invoke the 25th and declare Trump disabled.

I quote: “In these circumstances, the section authorizes the Vice President and a majority of either the Cabinet, or such other body established by law (a presidential disability review body), acting jointly, to declare the President to be disabled.”

I'm not the only one thinking this way. This image is from Mad Magazine, but there are a ton of others.

Trump will not go to jail nor even stand trial, as he will be deemed incompetent. He will have good care, and be given blank sheets of paper to sign, and told he (still) is a fine President, while various Republicans go, Sad, Tragic, Thoughts and prayers, Oh what a noble mind is here o’erthrown, and so forth. They erect a statue. Meanwhile Vance tightens his grip on power.

What would that tightening of power look like? For the next thrilling episode, tune in tomorrow. Or maybe the next day, as tomorrow is the launch of Paper Boat in the UK.

It’s the honking big Selected Poems — when did I write all that?

Here is the U.S cover, from Knopf at PRH.You can see I’m having Oracular Visions.But you can also see It’s Not All Bad. Either that, or I’m a sadist.