I don’t know anything about poetry.
I understand that some of the basic elements of poetry are (I had to look these up): rhyme, rhythm, meter and stuff called “alliteration,” “assonance,” etc.
Now, that is not to say that I don’t enjoy reading poems.
I regularly receive poems from a couple of friends.
One friend’s poems are more traditional. That friend writes beautiful poetry about dreams, memories, love, the seasons, nightfall, the sun, the moon and the stars.
I love them.
My other friend’ poems are more politically oriented.
It so happens that we share similar political views and social values. Ergo, I enjoy them very much.
I want to share one of my friend’s “political” poems.
But, first, I wanted to do some research on “political poems,” so that I would not sound too uninformed.
Lo-and-behold, yesterday, Ken Chen at the New Republic wrote a long, long article, “What’s The Matter With Poetry?”, where he takes Ben Lerner (the great American poet, novelist, essayist and critic) to task, among other, for his stand on “political poetry” in Lerner’s new book The Hatred of Poetry.
If I understand it correctly, Chen disagrees with Lerner’s argument that if one loves “poetry’s promise of transcendence, you must also hate poems for their failure to keep up their end of the bargain.”
But I will let more informed readers decide for themselves, so here is some more by Chen:
“Poetry,” Lerner writes, “arises from the desire to get beyond the finite and the historical—the human world of violence and difference—and to reach the transcendent or divine.” The only problem? Poems are ultimately human rather than divine in character. “As soon as you move from that impulse to the actual poem,” he continues, “the song of the infinite is compromised by the finitude of its terms. In a dream your verses can defeat time… but when you wake… you’re back in the human world with its inflexible laws and logic.” In other words, if you’re a poet, you may declare yourself the unacknowledged legislator of the world, but you’re really just a hobbyist in the verse game.
Specifically on political poetry, Chen claims, “Merely disliking poetry, Lerner presents himself as a voice of reason, one who can moderate these excesses and defend the art against the pollution of politics.”
Perhaps as testimony to the impact of political poetry and in a rebuttal to Lerner, Chen shares a couple of stanzas (I hope I got the terminology right) of that very controversial — some say “infamous”– poem by Amiri Baraka*, “Somebody Blew Up America.”
The poem, released more than a year after September 11, according to Chen, is “an anti-matter ‘Song of Myself,’ a maximalist litany about everyone who’s ever been annihilated by or opposed American imperialism…”
Who need fossil fuel when the sun ain’t goin’ nowhere
Who make the credit cards
Who get the biggest tax cut…
Who locked up Mandela, Dhoruba, Geronimo,
Assata, Mumia, Garvey, Dashiell Hammett, Alphaeus Hutton…
Was it the ones who tried to poison Fidel
Who tried to keep the Vietnamese Oppressed
Who put a price on Lenin’s head
Who put the Jews in ovens,
and who helped them do it
Who said “America First”
and ok’d the yellow stars
Now, my second friend, the one who sends me “political poems,” is not as controversial — or infamous — as Baraka is, but his poems are very timely, relevant and, hopefully, do not “pollute” the art of poetry.
Here is his most recent one. It is called, “Hey Mate – I’m going to be Great – So listen up to what’s on my plate.”
Build a wall — And terrorism will fall
And who will pay? The Mexicans if we have it my way
Stop this national identity blight
Just keep this land for the Christian white
Bury your head in the sand — Don’t get involved in a foreign land
We won’t be safe in this land — Until there is a gun in everyone’s hand
Forget about those trade agreements poor
Cancel them all and we’ll prosper more
Climate change is as a Chinese hoax seen
Dig more coal, cut EPA and we’ll be just as green
Cut them high taxes — Chop them up with axes
Now don’t sweat about Social Security and Medicare
I’ll keep those benefits and even more because I care
Now clearly the defense budget should rise, but I’ll re-prioritize
I’ll get right in there with my businessman’s hat to give them a surprise
We’ll cut waste, fraud and abuse – so don’t you sweat
We’ll balance the budget and eliminate the National debt
It’s now $19 Trillion and growing every day
But we don’t have to pay — As a businessman I know the way
I’ve used bankruptcy many a time
My lenders didn’t get their dollars they only got a dime
So when I push the debt down to zero — You’ll call me a hero
We will set a new record for the growth of GDP
We’ll double it from the fifty-year average – you have heard it from me
It won’t be long — Before Radical Islam is gone
It won’t take long; it’s easy as a song — We’ll just carpet bomb
We’ll make those lazy foreigners for their security pay
And if they don’t; we’ll just push them out of the way
We’ll reap trillions by imposing tariffs on imports from far away
But on our own manufacturers there will be little taxes to pay
We’ll kick out the lazy “illegals” for their sin
And we won’t let any new ones come in
Now Congress – who are they? I’ve financed many in my day
If they don’t do what I say – I’ll fire them and send them on their way
We’ll be happy as a little clam — In our self-sufficient land
We’ll once more be great — Behind our 50-foot Gate
Now I’m an outsider, not a Washington lackey
I admit sometimes I say things wacky
No public office have I held – but what I’ve done sure has been swell
Now if you disagree, take it from me
If you don’t vote for Trump – we’ll all end up in the dump
And if you disagree, too bad for you, not too bad for me
And don’t try to start any fights
Or I’ll punch you in the nose and turn out your lights
Also, please read “Putting Political Poetry on America’s Op Ed Pages,” by “our own” Michael Silverstein.
* Baraka died in January 2014. He was 79. Read more about Baraka and his (in)famous poem here.
Photo credit: Textual Interstitial Vector via photopin (license)
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.