[Newspoetry] Re: Democratic Liberals Strike Again - Newspoem

[C. G. Estabrook]

Excellent piece, using Chomsky's observation to meditate on our national
chairman of the board ... Reminds me, on the double-happening
tragedy/farce continuum, of a double-dactyl about another double-named
president:

	Higgledy-piggledy,
	Benjamin Harrison,
	Twenty-third President,
	Was, and, as such,

	Served between Clevelands, and
	Save for this trivial
	Idiosyncrasy,
	Didn't do much.

		--John Hollander

Maybe we'll be so lucky.  --CGE


On Tue, 7 Aug 2001, gillespie william k wrote:

> Newspoem
> 
> "Onion Article" links to
> http://www.theonion.com/onion3726/bush_finds_error.html
> "Chomsky" links to
> http://jac.gsu.edu/jac/11.1/Articles/1.htm
> 
> .....
> 
> Onion Article Not Funny
> 
> .
> 
> In sort of an odd way,
> this story in the Onion
> isn't funny.
> 
> Because I wish it were true.
> 
> This gag takes as its premise
> (already firmly established)
> that our president is all
> but functionally illiterate.
> 
> We've moved beyond jokes about
> the president misusing words
> to the point where the idea
> that the president is
> sophisticated, talented, punctilious, and gracious
> (in every respect a wonderful man)
> is subversively side-splitting.
> 
> But what if it were true?
> 
> It could denote utopia
> if the president were,
> simply, the best of men:
> a self-proclaimed "dilettante"
> whose rigorous excellence
> in all pursuits was tempered
> only by his gentle humility.
> 
> On the other hand, if Bush
> were that smart, we'd all be in
> serious trouble, since intelligence
> does not entail kindness,
> sympathy, or humility.
> 
> Chomsky is in favor of corruption:
> As long as the ruling elite
> is interested more interested
> in money than in power,
> the damage they do is limited.
> 
> But if America ever had
> a truly charismatic president,
> a leader, an impressive person,
> capable of inspiring loyalty,
> conditions would be right for
> fascism.
> 
> Write a funny poem about the human race hitting bottom.
> 
> Who is this Bush?
> What is his name?
> What does he mean?
> 
> Nothing. He does not exist.
> He'd rather be drunk on a boat
> somewhere, losing at checkers.
> 
> He is only the president.
> A blank, an empty signifier,
> a face on a dollar bill.
> 
> ...