Category: Poetry
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President Biden Finds a Note in the Oval Office: Satirical Poem
To Cheater Joe, I guess I’ll go. But I didn’t lose! (I hid all the booze.) I wasn’t a quitter ‘Til I got cancelled on Twitter. You think you won But I ain’t no bum! I’m getting arty, Will start a new Party! Call it the “Patriot”! It’ll be a riot. I hope ya fail! […]
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Trump to President Xi: Satirical Poem
“Trump told Xi that Americans were clamoring for him to change the constitutional rules to serve more than two terms.” –Washington Post “They want me to stay president forever! I’m thinking maybe Communist is better.”
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Protest Shakes the Poetry Foundation
In standing against injustice, we must use language carefully and fairly, lest we find ourselves speaking and acting unjustly.
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They’re Having Problems Down in Florida: Satirical Poem
They’re having problems down in Florida. They gettin’ corona blues from the New Yorkas.
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John Bolton’s Wars (a poem)
If Rudy* is a “hand grenade”*Why did Bolton* send his aideTo disarm the whole charadeWhile Bolton lounges in the shade? Well, that is how his wars are made:From the safety of Bolton’s brain. Note: *Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of NYC serving as President Trump’s personal attorney and covert diplomat in Ukraine. *John Bolton was the […]
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Three Poems of Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Here are three poems by a neglected (some would say deservedly so) Wisconsin born and raised American poet– Ella Wheeler Wilcox, whose late 19th and early 20th Century verse is full of rhyme and meter and “sentimental” Victorian optimism, the very thing the Modernists rebelled against. And yet many of her poems have a witty, […]
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The Human Wall (a poem)
Because no one will pay to build His WALL– Not Mexico, not Congress, not even the Wall Street Journal or Faux News, not anyone— The PRESIDENT will send soldiers with guns To make sure Mexico does not invade. Nat. Guard will guard the desert (without shade) As long as Trump proclaims that they will stand On […]
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As If a Cell Can Bar a Soul (a poem)
In honor of World Poetry Day Couplets for those who don’t betray The verse of stars, the vow of stones And meet the sinking sun alone– As if a cell can bar a soul … As if a whale can hide the whole.
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To Honor Poetry on World Poetry Day, Help Imprisoned Poets Across the Globe
By John Kaufman PEN International is profiling four poets on World Poetry Day now being held either in prisons or under house arrest for dissenting against injustice through art and/or journalism: Aron Atabek of Kzakhstan, Liu Xia of China, Amanuel Asrat of Eitrea, Dareen Tatour detained by Israel. To see what you can do to […]
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Introducing Rhymed Couplets in honor of the Trump Administration . . .
“Tough Love” Trump will issue tariffs in “a very loving way.” (He thinks that we will love him even when we lose our pay.)
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Robinson Jeffers: “Be Angry at the Sun”
[JFK: Here’s a poetic perspective on politics some may call cynical, some may say stoic. Jeffers referred to his philosophical distance from people as “inhumanism.” This should not, however, be confused with inhumane-ism. Jeffers built a house of stone in Carmel, CA overlooking the Pacific in the days before Carmel was a haven for wealth […]
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Poem: “Death of a Journalist”
By John Frederick Kaufman Sick of screens that blind with light, I’ll sing myself to sleep and let all facts arrive to you undeniably as night. I watch the snow fall silently and do not care to count. I don’t want to tell you anymore what it all amounts to.
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The “Human Rights Poetry” of Yevgeny Yevtushenko Very Relevant Today
By John Frederick Kaufman Speaking of his poetry, here’s what Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who died yesterday in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the age of 84, told the Associated Press in an interview back in 2007: “I don’t call it political poetry, I call it human rights poetry; the poetry which defends human conscience as the […]
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April: Poetry & Mud
A poet in a bad mood can ruin a reputation, as T.S. Eliot did for April when he called it “the cruellest month”, adding an extra letter l for emphasis. I prefer what Robert Frost had to say about April in is his poem “Two Tramps in Mud Time.” Mud time is what rural people […]
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A Poem: “Fists and Flags”
By John Frederick Kaufman Fists and Flags “America first!” the president cried and raised his fist to punch the sky while someone punched a fascist in the head: the fist is first of many lies, grip of welcome weaponized. In my hand I hold a pen to strike out the wall-like words that slam […]
The Pacific 