Dreams of the Presidents From George Washington to Barack Obama

by Barasch, Charles; Turner, John R.

• ISBN13: 9781556437502
• ISBN10: 1556437501
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-09-09
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Summary

The stuff of dreams--hopes, fears, and longings--represent universal subjects to which everyone can relate. These dreams take on a new cultural currency in Dreams of the Presidents, a fictionalized anthology of dreams, one for each American president. Exploring power, as well as its limits and possibilities, Charles Barasch makes light of the entitlement and self-importance commonly attributed to politicians. Fun to read, humorous, and laced with events of historical interest, each poem gives a dose of insight into the presidents' lives and their relationships with others, including their families, allies, and rivals. Where contemporary people or important references to American history (such as slavery and the Indian wars) occur, notes explain and contextualize them within the poem's meaning.

Author Biography

Charles Barasch’s poems have been published in many literary and general-interest magazines, as well as in the anthology Baseball, I Gave You All the Best Years of My Life. He has created crossword puzzles for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other major publications. A linguistics professor at the University of Vermont and a speech pathologist working with children, he lives in Plainfield, VT.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. XIII
George Washington	p. 1
John Adams	p. 2
Thomas Jefferson	p. 4
James Madison	p. 6
James Monroe	p. 8
John Quincy Adams	p. 10
Andrew Jackson	p. 12
Martin Van Buren	p. 15
William Henry Harrison	p. 17
John Tyler	p. 18
James Polk	p. 20
Zachary Taylor	p. 23
Millard Fillmore	p. 25
Franklin Pierce	p. 27
James Buchanan	p. 29
Abraham Lincoln	p. 31
Andrew Johnson	p. 33
Ulysses Grant	p. 34
Rutherford Hayes	p. 36
James Garfield	p. 39
Chester Arthur	p. 41
Grover Cleveland	p. 43
Benjamin Harrison	p. 45
William McKinley	p. 47
Theodore Roosevelt	p. 49
William Taft	p. 51
Woodrow Wilson	p. 53
Warren Harding	p. 56
Calvin Coolidge	p. 58
Herbert Hoover	p. 60
Franklin Roosevelt	p. 62
Harry Truman	p. 65
Dwight Eisenhower	p. 67
John Kennedy	p. 70
Lyndon Johnson	p. 72
Richard Nixon	p. 74
Gerald Ford	p. 76
Jimmy Carter	p. 78
Ronald Reagan	p. 80
George H.W. Bush	p. 82
Bill Clinton	p. 84
George W. Bush	p. 86
Name Index	p. 87
About the Author	p. 93
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

George H.W. Bush’s Dream

I’m flying a mission over the Pacific,
the water still as a summer pond.
With no target in sight,
I do some rolls,
some loop-de-loops.
I feel like I’m fox-trotting
with Barbara, the wind her fingers
in my hair. I guide the plane
just like I lead her, a promenade,
a little twirl and dip.
A biplane is on my tail,
Saddam in the cockpit like he wants
to cut in, and I try a dive,
but he’s still crowding me, so I pull my ‘chute
and drift down over Washington,
past the monuments and the pool,
onto the White House lawn.

A carrier pigeon wings
into the Oval Office and becomes Dan Quayle
with a note from Greenspan to raise taxes.
I scream, “Can’t anyone read my lips?”
and Barbara comes running in
saying something about Georgie
sniffing cocaine again, and I feel
like being somewhere else and hop
back in the plane, pull on the throttle and we’re up
in the air again. I get Saddam
in my sights, but remember “kinder
and gentler” and bring the plane in.
Saddam and I do a hot tango
on the tarmac, and I let him lead.
George H. Bush (1989—1993)

Bush enlisted on his eighteenth birthday and, ten months later, became the U.S. Navy’s youngest pilot. He flew fifty-eight combat missions in World War II. In his nomination acceptance speech, Bush said, “Read my lips: no new taxes.” Two years later he agreed to a budgetary compromise with Congress raising taxes. Bush also called for a “kinder, gentler” nation when nominated and repeated these words in his inaugural address.

Bill Clinton’s Dream

I beam when Rabin and Arafat shake hands
across a wooden table and, for the cameras,
swap headgear. A star flares, a sign
of peace, then hurtles toward us,
becomes a gavel that smashes
like a wrecking ball into the table,
as a robed judge — I can’t tell who,
maybe God, maybe Clarence Thomas —
intones my name from a towering pulpit.

Then I’m back in Hope, a young man
pushing a stroller, holding Hillary’s hand.
We enter a thick woods.
I run ahead, plunge deep
into the forest, stumble through brush
and over fallen logs. I’m lost.
I see a faint glow in the cedars
and think I’m in a fairy tale,
it must be Grandma’s cottage.
I imagine Newt Gingrich
has devoured her and waits
for me, ready to pounce.
But it’s the White House,
and tourists jam the main entrance,
so I duck around back,
open the door to a tavern
filled with smoke and music.
I get my sax to jam
with Springsteen on stage,
but first sit at the bar,
buy a scotch for the woman
on the next stool. When she turns
to me her mouth opens
wide as if to scream. I put the sax
in and she plays a slow number.
Bill Clinton (1993—2001)

In 1993 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed a peace agreement on the White House lawn and, with Clinton looking on, publicly shook hands for the first time.

George W. Bush’s Dream

Air Force One takes off,
banks low between buildings,
down alleyways, through tunnels,
stretching and bending impossibly
like in a cartoon. I’m having fun
but see there’s no pilot
and climb over mounds of naked bodies,
severed heads. I’m afraid
I’ll be sucked under, but crawl
to the cockpit and grab the wheel.
I realize I don’t know how to fly,
and when the White House looms ahead,
I wish my father were here.
George W. Bush (2001— )

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Excerpted from Dreams of the Presidents by Charles Barasch
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.