[Oe List ...] A Poem in place of an angry rant!

[Nancy Trask]

Great poetry, Milan — thank you!
Nancy Trask

On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 6:53 PM Milan Hamilton via OE <
oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

> I've been working on this poem for a week. In light of today's second
> impeachment of a U.S. President ever, with my feelings of having been
> trampled under foot by a mob of insurrectionists and my head both feeling
> like it is going to explode or implode, I believe poetry is my only recourse
> 😡🤬🤯
>
>
>
> *What If . . .*
>
> What if we changed our thinking?
>
> Seems to me it has been stinking—
>
> Thinking, that is!
>
> And what if we transformed our vocabulary?
>
> Maybe a little less military?
>
>
>
> Hey! I just had one,
>
> A thought, I mean—check it out!
>
> Is it odiferous?
>
>
>
> Let’s eliminate all “isms”
>
> That might mitigate current schisms,
>
> See life through myriad prisms,
>
> Instead of only black and white
>
> Or absolutes: “You’re wrong! I’m right!”
>
>
>
> Capital’s essential, you know,
>
> For entrepreneurs and commerce flow.
>
> But adding “ism” always starts a fight:
>
> Smith or Keynes, Marx or Malthus;
>
> Each an ism in its own right.
>
>
>
> Being social’s a healthy attitude,
>
> Even communal, although a platitude.
>
> But tack on that suffix, we become bellicose,
>
> We can’t see our neighbor, at least not up close.
>
>
>
> My fellow Americans, sans ism,
>
> Be a patriot, proud of our national rhythm
>
> Don’t you think it’s off track?
>
> How to ever get it back?
>
>
>
> Let’s be fans—not fanatics
>
> And honor our heroes
>
> While shunning the ones who lead us astray.
>
> No need to name them; we know by their actions:
>
> “By their fruits you shall know them.” Eliminate factions.
>
> A new thought—a new verbiage, a better way!
>
>
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