Testaments: Harry S. Truman

by John Peeler —

“Testaments” is a series of poems that take the form of valedictory statements by each of the postwar presidents, in the poetic manner of Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology.

 Harry S Truman

I was a loyal party man,
a proud Vice President.
When he was gone,
I knew one thing:
I was President.
I tried to be a good one.
I didn’t know about the bomb,
but had to drop it,
or take worse choices.
I wasn’t popular—
Who would be, who wasn’t FDR?
Dewey thought he had me
when he went to bed.
I had him for breakfast.