Comments on: A Call For More Political Poetry On America’s Op Ed Pages

By: magnus barefoot

magnus barefoot — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:12:20 +0000

Flock of Birds darken sky
foreboding thoughts, and I ask why.
I raise my eyes, find darkness bleak,
This country ours, has grown quite weak.
I wonder when we'll make a stand,
wrest our land from silver-spoon hand.
I wonder if again truth shall reign,
silver-spoon-fed-folk feel not our pain.
Corrupt ones rule this land we loved,
into corner common folk shoved;
for oil black our young men die,
illusions fed us, for them we cry;
for loot they strive, and fight for Power,
while in fine Mansion's our leaders cower.
The rich get richer, while strive we must,
and Politician's ours make fools of us.
It's not too late to make a stand,
wrest power from corrupt one's hand;
as did founding Father's in days of old,
let's take a stand, we must be bold;
'gainst English Tyrant Forefather's strived,
their blood, spilled, countless brave men died.
We stand not for blood revolt,
for freedom gained, we can not halt;
Bold boys' blood in Iraq is spilled,
far too many ours have been killed;
for reasons, vain, not noble 't'all,
riddle me that, you stop the fall.

By: magnus barefoot

magnus barefoot — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:11:53 +0000

Sad, sad, that indeed
our country ruined, heard of William Tweed?
They line their pockets with perks and loot,
drive fancy limos, wear fancy suits.
Tax paid vacations, to places exotic,
don't give a hoot, cast ballots toxic.
Constitution be damned, for One World they seek.
Rothschilds, Bildebergers, sacred Document tweaked.
Casting their votes on matters urgent,
their goal, to twist Forefather's intent.
Wont be long 'fore fateful day
Foreign tanks roving this land once free,
Your faith will they obliterate,
one religion, of the State.
In this land once ours, you'll have no say.
Sad, sad, 'tis indeed, for this great land they pledged away.

By: goodfoot08

goodfoot08 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:31:41 +0000

I think you confuse words and ideas with the meaning of a poem. Think cooking and what it means to suggest we make more omelets that promote peace and you can approximate how wrong it is to expect "poets" to be more topical or relevant.

Most of the public poetry of days of yore has been forgotten, thankfully. It was awful, didactic and unnecessary. The few examples we still remember mainly rose above the rest, but even many of those did nothing to advance any cause other than poetry.

It also is important to note that if you want this sort of poetry, it is already everywhere you look. You can hardly turn around without stumbling over another "poem about something important". Meanwhile all those "other poets" continue to reach for something amazing through language. The implications of their efforts is really political enough, if one listens closely to what is being done. For the lazy or the uninformed, unfortunately, these are not easy things to understand. But they honor the tradition of Whitman, Dickinson and all the poets who were once considered superfluous. As Eliot said, "For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business."

If the omelet is filling and enjoyable, is it really fair to expect it to also has to teach us something?

By: JillyDybka

JillyDybka — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:01:12 +0000

I learned (from poking around in the NYT archives last year) that poetry was mostly published in newspapers. Then in the late 1800's/early 1900's, when magazines began to become more popular, the publishing of poetry in magazines was viewed with suspicion. From what I could see, it cheapened it.

How things have changed.

There is a political poetry conference, Split This Rock, in DC later this month. I plan to attend.

I linked to this article from my blog this week, but I guess you didn't get the pingback.

Take care
Jilly

By: Poetry News For February 29, 2008 | Poetry Hut Blog: Poetry News

Poetry News For February 29, 2008 | Poetry Hut Blog: Poetry News — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:35:47 +0000

[...] Why isn’t there more poetry on the Op Ed and opinion pages of this country’s newspapers? [...]

By: cosmoetica

cosmoetica — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:03:27 +0000

Mike, while I like your verse, serious poetry used to make it to newspapers.

When the NYT or WaPo runs stuff like this:

http://www.cosmoetica.com/Skyline.htm#THE%20AME...

or this:

http://www.cosmoetica.com/Skyline.htm#THE%20TWI...

or this:

http://www.cosmoetica.com/Omni1.htm#THE%20PASSINGS

or this:

http://www.cosmoetica.com/Jessica%20Schneider.h...

or this:

http://www.cosmoetica.com/49%20Gallery.htm#%22T...

then you'll know that the deliterate current state of America is on the mend.

And BTW- my Twin Towers Canon was composed 2 years b4 9/11 and the New Yorker never published it, in favor of trite doggerel on the day.

By: the poems

the poems — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:36:42 +0000

[...] PO Box 408, Lakeland 33802. Poems may be e-mailed to trent.rowetheledger.com. …www.theledger.comA Call For More Political Poetry On America??s Op Ed Pages Why isn??t there more poetry on the Op Ed and opinion pages of this country??s newspapers? The [...]

By: silentdevotion.net » A Call For More Political Poetry On America’s Op Ed Pages

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:21:03 +0000

[...] Content Keyword RSS wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]