Tag: poems
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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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Couplets: “It Was a Dark and STORMY Day”
Within the White House the forecast is “Stormy.” But the president swears that NOTHING porny Ever happened with that woman hushed With money that had NOTHING to do with slush. Lawyers pay off porn stars all the time Right before elections . . . with their own dime Without the knowledge of the one was […]
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Couplets: “Trump’s Spin Cycle”
Trump’s Spin Cycle “There is no Chaos, only great Energy!” Said the guy trapped in the washing machine.
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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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William Blake: “Auguries of Innocence”
[JK: An augury is an omen and this is a political poem because . . . today is Blake’s birthday and the poem details connections, relationships ecological and human we too often, especially in the halls of power, fail to acknowledge. The first four lines are famous but we often neglect the rest of this […]
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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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Rumple Oxbridge: “The More War Sonnet for Afghanistan”
By Rumple Oxbridge, liberal lyricist Trump has a plan to fix Afghanistan: more war will do what war has not before. It is a plan not hard to understand his “war cabinet” advises–War fails? Try more. Eventually this war will have to end but stopping war before we win is like un-masculine and feminist. […]
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Rumple Oxbridge: “Nuclear War Prayer?”
By Rumple Oxbridge, liberal lyricist A Reverend says that God has stated President Trump can blast to Hades anyone Trump thinks is evil. The Reverend points to the Bible to prove that killing by a ruler is fine if the other ruler’s crueler. This sort of Anti-Christianity preaches it’s wimpy and downright weak not to […]
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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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Rumple Oxbridge: “Trump’s ‘major, major’ getting tough with the Koreas”
By Rumple Oxbridge, radical rhymer The president says diplomacy is “very difficult” so we may have a “major, major conflict” [war] (lots of majors, lots of gore) with Koreans of the North. As for Koreans of the South, Trump says they owe us for the clout of the new missile system “THAAD.” Besides, our […]
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Rumple Oxbridge: “On Pornography”
By Rumple Oxbridge, The Pacific’s radical rhymer, sometimes referred to as “rhymer-in-residence.” I was going to say a little goes a long way but if I may be so bold why should any sex be sold? Watching nakedness cavort suggests it’s just a spectator sport; love is touching when eyes are closed– open, it’s just rubbing.
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Rumple Oxbridge: “In Ignorance We Cannot Trust”
By Rumple Oxbridge (imaginary rhymer-in-residence) What Gov. Walker learned, at last, is this: ignorance is only bliss if ignorance is all there is — “In God We Trust” will soon go bust if you think God thinks for us. [For the NY Times’ Frank Bruni column, 800 words of prose on the relationship between Gov. Walker, Republican […]
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Feeding the Birds: a poem
Feeding the Birds By John Kaufman for W.S. Merwin Here in the city we try to remember the birds, offering seed to nourish nothing but flight and song. We have sown plants and trees to nullify the lawn and streets a little, restore the forest and farms. And when the gulls fly by I always […]
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New Poems by Rebecca Kylie Law
[Today I’m pleased to present three new poems by Australian poet Rebecca Kylie Law. The poems were submitted to The Afternoon Journal and are published for the first time. Please note the copyright: All rights reserved.] For St Francis of Paola, Hermit In the afternoon becoming night, noticing small ribbed shells the […]
The Pacific 