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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>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<span style='font-family:"Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif'>đĄđ¤Źđ¤Ż</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>What If . . .<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal>What if we changed our thinking?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Seems to me it has been stinkingâ<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thinking, that is!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And what if we transformed our vocabulary?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Maybe a little less military?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hey! I just had one,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A thought, I meanâcheck it out!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Is it odiferous?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Letâs eliminate all âismsâ<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>That might mitigate current schisms,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>See life through myriad prisms,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Instead of only black and white<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Or absolutes: âYouâre wrong! Iâm right!â<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Capitalâs essential, you know,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For entrepreneurs and commerce flow.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But adding âismâ always starts a fight:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Smith or Keynes, Marx or Malthus;<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Each an ism in its own right.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Being socialâs a healthy attitude,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Even communal, although a platitude.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But tack on that suffix, we become bellicose,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We canât see our neighbor, at least not up close.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>My fellow Americans, sans ism,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Be a patriot, proud of our national rhythm<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Donât you think itâs off track?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>How to ever get it back?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Letâs be fansânot fanatics<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And honor our heroes<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>While shunning the ones who lead us astray.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>No need to name them; we know by their actions:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>âBy their fruits you shall know them.â Eliminate factions.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> A new thoughtâa new verbiage, a better way!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>