Purloined Poetics
Inspired by Yeats
Turning and turning in the world wide web
The tweeter cannot believe the twitterer
Things fall apart; the people cannot make sense of it
Weird gobbledigook is woven into the web
The virus-dimmed tide is loosed, and
everywhere
The ceremony of democracy is drowned
The Dems get hung on transitude
while GOPs are blown with MAGAtude
What rough beast, its anger now from slumber torn
Slouches toward Fort Sumpter to be reborn?
Inspired by M. Arnold:
Ah, Americans, let us be true to one another!
For our nation, which is spread out historically
in principles of Constitution and Rule of Law,
so various, so tolerant, so true,
abandons hope for huddled masses yearning to be free.
Yeah, I say unto thee
we are descending in a darkening spree
swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight
where Libs and MAGAs argue about what’s wrong or right.
inspired by J. Lennon:
I watched the news that day, oh well. . .
about a nation that had gone all to hell.
They blew our mind out in a mob
That crowd of people made me sob.
They’d seen trump’s call: confound the count
They wouldn’t accept the legitimate amount
Nobody was really sure what was going on.
We need to turn our Constitution back on.
I saw the news today oh yeah
The Allied armies had just won the war.
A crowd of people turned away
But I just had to look,
having read the book.
I read the news today. . .I’ll tell:
Vlad the Mad was blasting Ukraine to hell
inflicting Kiev pain with Russian drones
driving Ukraine folk out of their homes
The yankee president was playing chess
with Vlad his queen arrayed in reichish dress
I’d love to make it all get gone.
I watched the news today oh well
The NATO nations had just evaded hell.
A crowd of people turned away.
But I just had to look
having read the book.
I’d love to see Peace turned on,
and Justice and Mercy go on and on and on. . .
