a bewildering search
is accepting submissions of poetry
to honor the upcoming inauguration
the rules
1) everyone gets to submit 1 and only 1 poem
2) i am the tyrannical poet king of this blog
i choose the winner
3) the poet must be willing to
recite the poem to the nation on inauguration day
4) all political sentiment is welcome
the poems must be posted on this comment stream
conquer the world
write poems
jh
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57 comments:
if kirby's contest was the LS poetry contest, does that make yours the BS poetry contest?
ah yes
very good
but we montanan's know
intuitively
the artistic value of BS
i'm expecting high value poetry
j
ALL HAIL OBAMA!
Obama was more cut-throat than McCain
He lied about public financing,
And bought the election.
All bow down to Barack Obama.
He threw his pastor under the bus.
When there still wasn't enough traction,
He threw his grandmother & got some action.
All bow down to Barack Obama.
He skated through HArvard
& taught at the U. of Chicago,
But hasn't got a single article to his name.
All bow down to Barack Obama.
The left is delighted because they got out the vote.
From an Acorn grew a mighty oak.
Now he'll give all illegals a free pass,
So they will all bow down to Barack Obama.
He was the slicker creepier candidate
Just as W. was before him.
Therefore he is the better man to lead the country.
All hail Obama!
All hail Barack Obama!
Barack Hussein Obama
The clitter-clack of incompetence
Clangs...
'Bring Forth!'
A pragmatic son of a bastard
To undo disaster,
But disaster is as disaster done,
Forward faster to unknowns,
The son of a Kenyan
(maybe he's not American!)
But that doesn't matter,
He kinda has the how-ta'
To get done a thing or two
(once in a while)
Big ears, a bigger smile,
"What we need is what you want"
Thin and fit, not fat or gaunt
An inspiration! But inspiring to what?
Hire some smart folks to do hard jobs
And tell the people when shit's gone wrong,
And in the end we hope at most
for maybe not a heckuva, but an acceptable
job well done.
What matters more is what is gone,
For when the future comes
It will be and was and then is done,
And the oceans will rise,
but maybe not too much.
And the soldiers will die,
but maybe not so much,
And the bankers will cry,
but maybe not as much.
If the ol' son-of-a-guy
With a smart mind and steady temper,
Gets an old-fashioned dash of luck.
-Brett
now come on kirby and brett
i mean you're stretchin the rules here both of you
i mean
would you be prepared to read either of these last two poems out loud to the whole country???!!!
if so i'll leave them stand until
inauguration day when i - i - i - i - i chose the winner
the prize for the winner is to be the poet luareate of a bewildering search
i can see already that in order to judge fairly here i'm going to have to shelve my politix
so i will not enter a poem
just some commentary to go along with the banter
nom de plumes' are welcome
as are ancient personages already dead...no i take that back...only alive people can submit a poem
i think brett has already surpassed kirby's entry
but i'll have to meditate on both of these in order to come to a clear jubdgement
thanks for kikkin off the contest!!!
onward poets
to the sunset at the sea
jh
Brett's poem did indeed clear mine by a full hurdle. I try to set a bar low enough that everyone will try to top me. Not too hard, I reckon.
I loved some of Brett's lines:
Big ears, a bigger smile,
For instance,
and I basically agree with his sentiment. Maybe Obama will not be quite as much of a kluck as W., and maybe he'll have some luck, and I think he does appear to be a pragmatic son of a gun.
At any rate, in terms of your warning about having to read the piece aloud to the nation:
a. I am pretty assured I won't win
b. You don't really possess a national source of dissemination so eve if I did win, I wouldn't have to read this bit of fluff
But I do want you to note that I am beginning to admire Obama's pluck. I was afraid for the longest time that he was the real thing: an actual idealist. I no longer believe that he has any principles at all. No more than a rattlesnake.
And I am beginning to get used to the idea that he will be no worse than the Texan from Crawford. Who, after all, turned out not to be so bad, except for the socialism of the end game he's playing with the banks and the auto industry.
Obama invited in Rick Warren, and has in general decided to play ball with conservatives. I think he's not going to be God-awful at least. But you never know.
Time will tell.
At any rate, good luck judging this. And believe me: if you want me to read something to the nation, I will put twenty marbles in my mouth, and go right ahead, full-steam.
kirby
your last line just about killed me
i've been looking around on the bleak landscape for some sunlight
thanks
j
here's what i'll do
i'll find someone with youtube
and recite the winning poem
for all the world to hear
so you better make it good
Thanks Kirby! I like poetry contests - they bring out the competitor in me.
I've not written much poetry in the past, say, 3 years.
This was my first original try in a while - written in real time!
I like the way you set the bar low.
It brings freedom.
here's what i'm willing to do as far as cultural exposure is concerned
on JANUARY 18th i will be performing s concert with some friends in a chapel
it will be my pleasure to read aloud
the poem that wins
so those are the stakes
i'm granting kirby one more poem for he was being such a goofball
he didn't know the stakes
so he deserves one more chance here
the winner will also have unlimited goofball status at LUTHERAN SURREALIST
make it up as i go
that't the government here
remember
there will be a public
recitation of your poem
in a chapel
jesus in the house
yeah
j
i'm stealing kirby's poem here and performing it in a punk rock setting with pigeons flying in the room
The End of White Guilt
Tote dat barge, lif dat bale
Ain’t no more
The color of weariness is a rainbow
And Old Man River
Pulls his own weight
I'm rollin, rollin, rollin
With the punches.
WW
WW's poem is short and has snap, and seems to catch some colloquial breeze that would please all parties.
Richards had to drop out of contention for the Commerce post today since he's being investigated for kickbacks.
I'm looking forward to listening to Rick Warren. There's someone with something to say.
A purposeless life? A porpoise-drive wife? A purposive belief?
What was it?
jh - where do you live? I'm not caught up on my blogger biographies.
You should be in Colorado, where roots music rules the day!
Mostly Bluegrass, and some of it half-assed, but hard to deny the good ol' times.
i live in lake wobegon
central minnesota
from Half a Year
Almanac, January 16-22
If today is Inauguration Day,
remember to turn off your televisions.
Don't read what the newspapers have to say.
Don't read the posts from academic prisons.
Don't listen to hatemongers and their jive.
Ignore the fawning, sycophantic crowd.
Look outside at the winter, hard, alive.
Hear the news of the red-tailed hawks crying loud.
Tomorrow the written world will not see change
but the sun will rise to an ever-changing song
over the clouds of swallows who arrange
a million brilliant patterns in their throng
and those who feed from the cancer-trough of fame
will hang their bloody, blinded eyes in shame.
GM, did you write this? I thought it was really good.
I was surprised to find out today that Dennis Hopper, who is a Republican, voted for Obama because he couldn't stand Sarah Palin.
He wanted Giuliani to win, but campaigned for McCain.
Kelsey Grammer and Jon Voigt are also Republicans.
I again tried to write something for the contest, but my brain shut down after half a line.
Yes, Kirby. I don't believe in plagiarism :)
The Sarah Palin thing was probably a bad choice -- but Bobby Jindal had already said "oh, helll naw!" and I figure McCain wanted another "rising-star-governor" -- problem was, she let herself be interviewed by people in love with Obama. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Oh well.
also -- it's from a collection of sonnets interspersed with other poems that are compiled from "notes" from my dead, alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother Maude's journal.
crap -- and thank you for liking it :)
yep
i too like the zest of WW's poem
but gm is a nose up
kudos to the entrants so far
i may change my mind by inauguration day
so don't despair
write on
jh
That's quite a poem, GM. I would be really proud of it, if I were you.
Good going!
I thought you might have been quoting someone.
This is a really important poem.
i am honored by the presence of all the poems thus far
even the goofball's statement
has a certain ring
and yeah gm
that's a great one
nothing like a poetry contest
first time
my stream has seen 20 comments
blessed epiphany
to all
j
Dear GM,
I liked your poem too. At the same time you wrote:
"also -- it's from a collection of sonnets interspersed with other poems that are compiled from
"notes" from my dead, alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother Maude's journal."
So is this NOT an totally original work?
Not that it would matter in the voting, since JH is Tyrant Over Poetry.
WW
ww
i am a tyrant
but i go through moods
who knows how i'll be
feeling on inauguration day
a good poet will credit sources
a great poet steals
ww -- ahem. . . it's from "notes". . .
Your followers called the president
A Nazi
An imbecile
A torturer
A fascist
A scumbag
A Confederate
A creep
Every name in the book
And now you want us to respect you.
We will.
kirby
this last poem
seems but a
scissored down
version of the
last one
what is with you
at least the last poem
had a structural
coherence
and captured something of the
nature of community
song
this one is like sharpened teath
tearing at the meat
of ill cooked political meals
i don't know if i could
say that
in a crowded chapel
but i like your verve
trying it again
on a different wavelength
gm's sonnet still holds
but maybe sally is gearing
up with a zinger
maybe meg would have a say
maybe that girl mira
with the vitrioliic tongue
maybe anonymous will come through
as he or she has throughout history
with something beyond belief
i went back to ww's poem
and i thought
really quite clever
or maybe this poetry contest has ground to a halt
wouldn't surprise me
hell life moves on
rather quickly
j
I had just a minute last evening and thought -- that's the bones of the thing. And I wrote down the bones. But it's lifeless, for sure.
Then this morning I woke up to GM's poem. Hanging on to it for sheer life.
I really can't stand what's happened politically. And now, Franken having stolen his election, too.
I suppose that people in Minnesota are elated to have Al Franken as their senator.
I never liked him even in Saturday Night Live.
Now he's going to making laws every day of the week.
And I really struggle with the Obama guy. What really impressed me was the Bushes palling around with him, and with Clinton. The guys at the top are dealing with this much better than I am, I think.
Maybe they see Obama as basically sound. To me he's just a question mark.
If the country goes, I just hope it goes quickly. Maybe the whole universe will just vanish. They say that if anyone ever succeeds in making a perfect vacuum, as they are trying to do some campuses, then the universe itself might implode. It would only take a couple of seconds according to Charles Seife in his History of Zero.
That would be fine. Much worse would be death by a thousand cuts, and lingering for years and years like the Roman empire under the reigns of Caligula and Heliogabalus and all the other entertaining figures of late Roman history.
The Vatican wants us to let down the border between the US and Mexico, but according to Lou Dobbs the Vatican has a very big wall around itself. You first, said Lou Dobbs.
At any rate, I can't sing at Obama's inauguration.
I am worried sick.
Kirby,
Why worry about what you cannot change?
Such a problem with our government -- fooling us into believing we have power.
Right, and it's also important that I keep my sense of humor. Without that, we can go down the tubes.
Yes, there's nothing I can do.
The media made this election.
And my part in that process is either to go along with it, or have it ride over me like a thousand elephants.
Whatever.
What good did Cassandra do, anyway?
hey kirby
i'm really sorry for your pain
i feel your pain
it must be like the pain i felt
the morning after the election in 2004 walking out into the world that morning i detected a palpable sense of dread streaming through the air..this is going to get worse...how could that be...it was only counteracted in november when people finally fed up with that overwhelming sense of dread took it to the streets and voted
maybe you could think of the next 4 yrs as a challenge in ascetical meditation...bring your suspicion and fear to everything the new administration does...and then offer it up as prayerful sacrifice
and you'd think you'd be happy that a comedian and perhaps not a great one...but then you'd have to consider a jewish adaptation of minnesota humor...can get elected...when has that ever happened...has there ever been a real comedian in the senate
franken was not my first choice
i tend to think senators should be discples of constitutional law...scholars...not representatives...but the word is he is a fast study...he's been reading up a storm
quite a career move
these times they are a changin
come jokers and jesters
who make people laugh
we're tired of the antics
of bush and his staff
we need wit and some wisdom
a dose and a half
if it's smiles you want to be havin
so you better start chucklin or
or your skin might just chaff
for the times they are a changin
peace
j
I am officially withdrawing my poem, "The End of White Guilt" from the contest.
Nuff said. Any comments, questions, or concerns, email me at whitaker.wendy@gmail.com
i was typing so fast i was embarrassed by my typos
but what i wanted to say
before steaming off
and getting my coffee
so maybe i can think striaght here for the next half hour
what i wanted to say
was that i accept your withdrawal WW
but you should know i am truly a gentle and benevolent tyrant
the context of my divine right powers barely extend beyond this blog
and in the spirit of poetic openness i offer you another opportunity to submit a poem
but don't take the precedent of kirby as your example
the force of poesie did nothing but suffer and decline on his second attempt
i'm almost sorry i gave him that chance
gee i thought for sure this poetry contest would attract worldwide attention but as it turns out
most of the world doesn't even know we're here
everyone is given 15 minutes of neglect
maybe i should set this up as a confessional
and grant absolutions
and suggest penances
kirby should say
1000 hail marys
and fast for a day
after his inglorious gaff
you're always welcome over in bewildering search land
j
Yes, when I think of Obama it's just that I hit a brick wall. I don't think he has any clue what we're up against.
Bush had a clue.
Giuliani. Now he would have been a president to celebrate.
That guy actually thinks clearly, stays on topic, and can create mental structures.
Very few presidents have been able to do that since Lincoln.
Lincoln, in fact, might be the only one.
I could celebrate Lincoln!
Obama's no Lincoln.
Obama is very clever, but he has no wisdom.
Bush has a little, mostly because his party still has the legacy of Lincoln.
Obama's party is the legacy of every man for himself, without other principles.
Oy vey.
Thanks for keeping my sense of humor up.
I don't know why WW dropped out. I liked her poem a LOT.
jh--i like your new verse
to the times they are a changin'
Kirby--how can you say that Obama's party is the legacy of every man for himself, without other principles? I thought you called him a socialist in other postings. It seems to me that unregulated capitalism is the epitome of every man for himself.
And, my hat's off to everyone who has submitted a poem so far, including WW. This was a difficult assignment. I didn't think I was going to come up with anything, but I finally got some inspiration this morning, so stay tuned for something from me.
ww
i think you read it wrong
i mean the nature of these things
is that we keep the criticism going as the stuff happens
if it were a journal of the paper variety there'd be precious secrecy until the final dissapointment
but here we just babble and banter as we go
i've decided there will be a runner-up prize of cash
$1 to the pome that takes second
and kirby ain't even in the running
j
Sally, in the Civil War the Democrats were for staying out of it, because it would cost them their skin.
They were with the South.
Socialism is just about stealing other people's things. It's not about creating anything. Or at least that's how I see it.
It's wolves dressed up in sheep's clothing.
Baaaaaaaaa-d.
Especially when socialists begin to talk in terms of vast groups, instead of individuals, I get alarmed.
Only individuals have consciences.
Socialists instead use the notion of history to perpetrate atrocities which by their logic are perfumed because they are part of a natural chain of events.
Which just means one group redistributing the business ecosystem of another. I believe in individuals, and families, and structures that protect them, and nourish them.
Race, gender, and class are appalling abstractions that work to destroy individuals and their families, and strip their gains and their precious networks, in favor of some kind of ferocious redistribution such as was put into effect at Dachau.
Or was the going thing in the American south, only in reverse.
Lincoln stood up against that and said, wait, the slaves are actually people. They have faces, and should have the same rights as we do.
The Democrats always think some group doesn't deserve rights.
Right now it's white men.
Back then it was blacks.
They'll shift and attack someone else next.
Republicans always think people the world over deserve rights. The people of Afghanistan, and Iraq. Even they deserve rights.
The Democrats don't care at all.
They don't care to ever lose their skin to save someone else's neck.
They only ever think about their own skin.
Sorry for the hissy fit. I'm rather stressed out in my life right now.
I will re-submit the poem with some minor changes. JH can decide if this falls into the rules of his contest.
The End of White Guilt
Tote dat barge,
lif dat bale:
Ain’t no more.
The color of weariness is a rainbow.
As Old Man River
Pulls his own weight,
I'm rollin, rollin, rollin
With the punches.
hey
way to hang in there WW
you're much better at editing your own work than kirby
that's for sure
i am considering a court jester
i think he can work that scene
at any rate
thanks for coming back
i missed you
j
Yeah -- Socialism is either about pity or theft -- neither of which is terribly productive.
kirby you're misreading the scene. man
listen to all those democrats out there
they are the ones talkin about caring for the underdogs the underbelly of the social web
they care about the street persons
they want them to eat good vegetables
i heard an ardent priestess last night the setting was the pond at the washington memorial she was preaching with a smiling assertive face the rise of the little people the voices that will be heard the will to not stand down to the evil republican fascists oppressors
she was preaching justice and basically it was about how like it or not the women are going to get this done...the women and barack obama
i guess the only thing i worry about there is if he brings back the harem thing
that might be too much for the whitehouse
dames in every room
i guess if they're willing to do the household chores what the heck
children parks good vegetables ipods smart cars designer jewelry these are the concerns of the people...and the right to know
lincoln would be a democrat today
and you know that
he'd be a bleeding heart liberal
with a necktie and his own tv show
i'm concerned about 2 things
what will michelle wear at the inauguration ball
and
will black people ever rediscover the richness of the blues
why has it become a white phenomenon
part of it is love of the sound
the other part is existential discontent i guess
if you're not cryin' you're just not tryin'
j
I'm very suspicious by nature of anybody who argues that they are good people. I think there ARE good people, but that they never announce it.
WW will now come in at least second. I was hoping to win a dollar by default, which I'd then toss into the lottery machine, catapulting me into the realms of the super-rich, frmo which I'd become an Episcopalian.
Ha, Ha.
Ok, here's my entry:
hold your breath
(for the presidential inauguration
of Barack Hussein Obama)
hush now
for this moment
like every other moment
holds the promise
of a new beginning
like the infinite potential
of a newborn infant
yes, he will grow up
for better or worse
and he will fail
and be blamed
and grow old like the rest
but it's not really about him
it's about you
and me
and the choices we all face
white and black
straight and gay
left and right
believer and infidel
yes, we will fail
and occasionally
succeed
We Have a Dream
and every once in a while
it is possible to see
that we have come
a few steps closer
to its fulfillment
so be silent
hold your breath
for a moment
at the newborn possibilities
and the awesome responsibilities
that lie before us
Ok, I will give him the benefit of the doubt, as they say. Nice poem, Sally.
He's the CIC, so you have to at least give him the benefit of the doubt, and hope he does well.
Few get out of that office untainted.
He may be a thief,
but he's also the commander in chief.
That's all I can manage for now in terms of poetry in that vein, but, but, but,
I'm hoping he far outdoes my expectations.
At least he's letting Rick Warren speak. That may be the last time I enjoy this presidency.
I hope, not.
now i'm confused
i may have to resort to a special ad hoc committee
for the final choice
i hope to get at least one or two more entries
or maybe i'll do this
there will only be one first prize
the first prize being the poet luareateship of bewildering search
(wherein i will have to step back from authoritarian poetic despotry)
and lifetime goofball status on LS
but everyone else
will be second
except for old dumblebreath over there
we may have to come up with a booby prize for him
sally's poem is a zinger alright
yet i think i'd go with the playfulness of WW over the prayerfulness of sally
if it came down to those two
having a natural inclination to "forms" is a bias of mine
and brett's poem still rings with a certain joie d'vivre
i may have to go into deep meditative prayer in order to make my choice
what have i gotten myself into
i hope everyone realizes nobody's watching
j
Hey, you can't grant lifetime goofball status at LS. That's my prerogative.
Ok, I grant it.
But I'm going to halve it to the the lifetime of a quark divided by a zillion.
Whatever that comes to.
Unless, of course, you let me win, in which case I'll extend the lifetime goofball status at LS to the exact measurement of the lifetime of LS itself, which may or may not equal my own actual lifetime.
also, Sally, I'm about to read Natalie Angier's chapter on Geology.
In which case I may be able to waste some precious seconds of your lifetime with amateur hour geology questions.
how does geology relate to Lutheran Surrealism?
don't worry, we always find a way to connect everything to everything so that it comes out as both infinite in interest, and nul and void simultaneously by virtue of its unintended levity.
All hail Barack!
hey pal if you can stick me in lichtenstein
i think i can direct the goofballs over to your
dog and pony show
you've been some incentive for me
to express the utterly ridiculous
i think it's the least i can do for someone else
thanks for thinking about it
and thanks for the green light
all aboard
the goofball express
yo
how do you get to become a monk? do you have to write a thesis? do you have to do something? too late for me, but what's the process?
I would like to spend the rest of my life on bended knee, as a Bend a Dict ine, or what have you.
We haven't got Lutheran monks.
And there are no surrealist monks.
We would like to set up a process so that we could have Lutheran Surrealist monkeys, though, that mock our every move in a monkey see, monkey do, fashion.
kirby
perhaps it is best to state simply
that upon setting upon the path of being a benedictine monk there begins a conversation that may or may not last a lifetime..an individual enters into a discussion with a particular group of men or women
then the next image is sort of a stepping onto a big turning ball like a globe it's possible to step off sometimes it is not too easy to do so the thing just goes round and round and there are others on this big globe turning too and we have all agreed to do certain things together at certain times like pray and eat
a person comes to live in a monastery first by visiting for shorter periods then gradually if it seems right the doors open with considerable serious deliberation on the part of the community as to whether this should happen for this person at this time..or not
there's a year or two of purely voluntary existence no strings attached
there's a period of simple vows which are not binding...3-6 yrs
then there's a moment of do and/or die...sort of the no exit moment similar to what people who get married must feel...this is it for life...the vows are taken as seriously as would someone state marriage vows
the psychological/spiritual moment when a person knows this is the life can happen rather quickly or can be a longer period of struggle
actually there are some lutheran benedictine monks in michigan i believe and a few small houses in norway and sweden...one of which is a community of women
there are capuchin monks and monkeys the monks are actually franciscan friars called monks loosely
can monkeys juggle yet?
all benedictine house have contingent communities of lay people...they are referred to as oblates...if you read kathleen norris you can get a sense of how an oblate non-catholic dances with the rule of benedict
in pine city NY there is a place called Mt Saviour Monastery...it is an astoundingly beautiful and hopeful place
well it looks like all the best poets in the world have decided to publish their poetry in a different anthology...except of course the elite group of poets who have published here
my blog poetry contest however stands as a great success
and i am humbly grateful to everyone who has submitted a poem
if you know of struggling poets
or even poets who refuse to struggle but want something to say
and a place to say it before inauguration day
here's the place
otherwise
people are winding their watches
o
i forgot
this is the 21st century
jh
aka
br john
aka
spark duster
Inauguration Day 2009
There comes a time
in the affairs of men—
on a day after the Day
when we honor the Dreamer,
in the century after
the Dreamer’s speeches moved—
when by our actions we shall be known.
We shall see the dream fulfilled partially—
due to the long way we’ve come, baby,
and the longer way we must go
to rid ourselves of those triple ills:
racism, poverty, and war.
Helen Losse
http://helenl.wordpress.com/
oops.
Inauguration Day 2009
There comes a time
in the affairs of men—
on a day after the Day
when we honor the Dreamer,
in the century after
the Dreamer’s speeches moved—
when by our actions we shall be known.
We shall see the dream fulfilled partially—
due to the long way we’ve come, baby,
and the longer way we must go
to rid ourselves of those triple ills:
racism, poverty, and war.
One out of three ain’t bad.
Helen Losse
He'll have to do a good job in adverse conditions in order not to deepen that tendency. Let's hope he does, for all of our sakes.
Nice poem, Helen.
I don't expect ANYTHING to come out of this presidency, so if anything decent occurs, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
I would have felt the same way about McCain, but Obama has promised so much. I doubt if he'll deliver anything at all.
Let's see.
I congratulate you on your hope. I don't know how anybody gets past thirty and still hopes for anything from the political sphere.
But I salute those who do.
I expect only disappointment, and am generally rewarded with it.
I did like Bush's 5 min. speech directly after 9/11.
It amazed me that anybody today can still stand for anything at all, and yet win an office.
You have to be the shrewdest of opportunists to get through the gauntlet. What ideals could you still have left that you haven't sold to the largest demographic?
I think I'm just so traditional in this respect.
Traditional anarchism, at least, from Kierkegaard through Rudolf Rocker.
Forgive me.
thanks helen for the finish line entry
a lovely thoughtful little ditty
the most any president can do given that his mind is formed in something like sound thinking is to trust that gov't can work
and that he/she can judge with good judgment what is best for the common good
i'm still open to the thesis that states time will tell
right now the former administration looks pretty damn foolish
will the truth of historical reflection redeem them
i doubt it
i don't know for sure
but i doubt it
the republicans have established a precendent of vicious reactionism
they're weighing the ridiculous failure of the newt gingrich revolution
the republicans seem to think govt is a machine to be manipulated and tweeked and pushed to its limit
the democrats say it's about people
maybe it's about old windtattered roadsigns
the winning poem will be recited today in a concert i will present with sally and her husband john and some other folks
i will make the announcement around noon here
another round of thanks to all of you
and especially to the newly established role for a bewildering search...the blogcourt jester...
now the privileged domain of kirby olson
sally's poem says it rather bluntly
it's not about any one person
not even about the president
and obama has said as much
the next challenge of america is in the realm of decency
in a few hours i will announce the winner
thanks again for the pomes
and all the banter here
j
IN THESE 57 STATES
For the smallest of humans
In all 57 states,
There is no hope, no charity
Or the greatest of these: love
Obama has pretty teeth, dear
Each one sharper than a knife
When it comes to a baby's life, dear
He calls up Doc the Knife
A mountain of tiny skulls
Reaching from Golgotha to the moon
The smallest of humans has no vote,
And it's Obama who calls the tune!
kirby just crashed into the room
wet from head to toe
i think perhaps a little drunk
and tried to steal the show
but it's no go no go
great imagery
but completely inappropriate
i guess in poetry that's a pretty tough call
but we're trying to come together as a nation
the jester is stoned
the winner
for the inauguration poetry contest
at
a bewildering search
is
GM Palmer's
SONNET
GM is now the official poet laureate of A BEWILDERING SEARCH
if he sends a pome
i have to publish it
for the next year
other poems are welcome as well
everyone else receives a runner-up prize of $1
if you wish to receive this prize you must write to me at
john hanson osb
st john's abbey
collegeville minnesota
56321
kitby wins the booby prize
and he will be court jester here
for the time being
as a booby prize
congratulations
all hail the king
of global detante
j
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