Balthus shows the way

In his prophetic watercolor from 1958,

Study for the Siesta, Balthus went be-

yond predicting Florida's exemption 

from government's new call for oil on

the beaches, as a periwinkle on the E-

lectoral College map. He foretold the

solution for the Leader's Easter melt-

down over caravans of aliens, swelling

California's voting rolls: suspension

from the vote count altogether, until

that bloated bladder can be purged of

evil brown tones. How the heartland,

swollen proud, disses pale wisteria of

tiresome New England, and rises on the

slop of fossil fuel's tumescent show.

We study the signs, just as the Leader

does, of his next fantasia on our race.