by Julia Griffin

“French far-right leader cancels US speech after ex Trump aide Bannon appeared to make ‘Nazi gesture'”
—The Guardian

“Elon Musk appears to make back-to-back fascist salutes at inauguration rally”
—The Guardian

In Democracy’s Last Chance Saloon,
They appear to be giving salutes;
But none should too swiftly impugn
These seeming saluters as brutes:

Though they’re lifting their arms in a pose
We once understood how to name,
We cannot be sure why they chose
A move that looked rather the same,

For anyone might do Sieg Heil!
In front of a crowd by mistake;
So let’s not despair for a while,
Because (though the air is opaque

In Democracy’s twilight, or dusk),
We’ve noticed no goose-stepping boots,
And thus we say only, of Bannon and Musk:
They appear to be giving salutes.