Verses Versus Empire

"In a Dark Time, the Eye Begins to See." So said the poet Roethke, and his words echo in this searing indictment of empire through the lens of poetry…

Through three imperial presidencies,
The poet cries, voice in the wilderness,
Reed swaying in the wind, a bruisèd reed,
His motion stirred to music.

Author, poet, and former Reuters journalist Abdiel LeRoy takes us through the inferno of U.S. politics, with all its absurdities and horrors…

Daring to see and state the obvious,
Decry hypocrisy, prophetically to see
Not just the future but the now,
The awful now and make some sense of it.

The moods range from bawdy wordplay and light-hearted satire to searing irony and melancholic lament. Yet the reader is entertained throughout...

The world a stage on which plays out
Congressional pantomime, a knot
Unable to untie itself.

In this third volume of LeRoy's 20-year Verses Verses Empire series, we witness the rise of Donald Trump with his reign of bombast and blasphemy. We hear the screams of children torn from their parents, the threats of "fire and fury" against other nations, and even denouncements of poetry itself by Trump's racist henchman, Stephen Miller...

The blood
Of innocents cry out to Heaven where
These incensed lines as incense burn,
With hate of Hate and hope of Hope.

Finally, we witness the emergence of Covid, shaking the world's oppressive power structures, just as Moses' plagues tore down empire in his times.

Thus, to quote The San Francisco Review of Books, Abdiel LeRoy emerges as "a brave new presence in the politics of the globe."

That he does so in poetry—along with occasional prose and short stories—makes for unprecedented literary achievement and a legacy collector's item for the discerning library. These works herald a poetic voice for our age, as if the early prophets spoke through Shakespeare and echoed to humanity today.

“If you wanted to extend the critical view of American political history into the present beyond Gore Vidal’s ‘Biography of the United States of America,’ these books would be the ticket… A joy to read and an invitation to keep your eyes open as to what is really going on.”
Rogier F. van Vlissingen

“So well done. A remarkable command of the language and great sensitivity. And doing all this in an entirely new way, wading into (almost) unexplored literary territory.”
Claude Forthomme

“Abdiel LeRoy’s poetry and prose offer intellectual nourishment for critical thinkers and seekers of truth… I highly recommend this book and its companion editions to anyone who seeks to escape from the ‘Matrix’.”
Annemarie M. Osborne

“The perfect portrait of Donald Trump.”
Anna Maria Polidori