[Newspoetry] NEWSPOEM-- Notes on the Senate Hearings

[Robert Porter]

Notes on the Senate Hearings  09/26/02



I want to wrap myself in the reasonable, well-modulated warmth

Of Henry Kissinger's voice

He sounds profound and steadfast, the Sage of Geopolitik

Even when admits to the failures of his prophetical gift


I want to button up snugly in the grey sincerity

Of Joseph Biden's words

The loyal Opposition, who will insist on clarity and honesty

Before reluctantly acquiescing to his President's commands


I want to seal myself up in the nurturing, competent cocoon

of Madelaine Albright's testimony

Such a learned woman, a wise Warrior Queen

Though her scholarly robes are covered in dust and blood


I want to believe I didn't feel that chill wind

Of Paul Wellstone's objections

What's he doing?  That wasn't in the Script!

Why do Jesse Helms' questions have an hysterical edge?

This is the Senate!  I thought these people were on top of the situation!


They know their duty to the nation

To be the counterweight to the Executive's pulverizing momentum

But they can't get a foothold, and they're jack-knifing

Like semis on a frozen black road


They're just riding with it, making comfortable noises

While a 90-mile-an-hour straight-line wind blows them clear into irrelevance

And I am not fast enough to keep patching the holes

That let in the screaming, gibbering cold.