Fable of the Alternative Fact

 
for Alan Soldofky
 
A slick slug comes to glisten in the ear.
It slides where once a wary owl would perch
To scan what seemed an overlay of earth--
Figural owl in a figural ear.

Flown or fallen, or so it would appear,
As though it were the emblem of our dearth,
This slick slug comes to glisten in the ear.
It slides where once a wary owl could perch,

Then into the very nadir of the year,
The zero core, absolute, sans rebirth.
What in hoc signo lifts above its church?
What acumen betrays the words we hear?
A slick slug comes to glisten in the ear.