Poetic Injustice

Even though President Obama picked Elizabeth Alexander to write his inaugural poem instead of me, I wrote one anyway. Actually, I sort of borrowed some, substituted some words and smashed them together into one poem.

Dedication Poem
by Dminor


Whose fete this is I think I know.
His house is now in DC, so
He will not see me blogging here,
Wondering how his term will go.⁽¹⁾

I thought that I would never see
A President sworn in like thee:

Gala whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the treas'ry's flowing breast;

Inaugural both night and day,
With Rick Warren on hand to pray;

A pick that draws an evil stare
From LGBT people there.⁽²⁾

The problem is all inside your head
it says to me
Now how do you square it with
proportionality
I understand you need some marching
bands to see
Must there be 90 bands
before you govern?⁽³⁾

How will you change things? Let me count the ways.
You'll change the size of government and when
The right complains, you'll check the votes again
For you have majorities well in place.⁽⁴⁾

"Forward, the bailout plan!"
Was there a dismay'd man?
Not tho' taxpayer knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to get behind,
Theirs not to borrow blind,
Their kids the bill assigned:
Into the Stimulus Plan
Go many billions.⁽⁵⁾

With spending, spending everywhere
"That will help, I think."
Spending, spending everywhere
But GDP still shrinks⁽⁶⁾

It's small business this, middle class that, upper class go away;
But it's "thank you, Joe the Plumber," when there is tax to pay.⁽⁷⁾

Our future's calling, dark and deep,
And you made promises to keep,
The country's fate: to laugh or weep?
The country's fate: to laugh or weep?⁽⁸⁾

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good luck, bub.⁽⁹⁾


We'll all need it. Our success depends on you.


If you were wondering what poems I stole from borrowed, they are listed below (apologies to all authors):

(1) "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," by Robert Frost
(2) "Trees," by Joyce Kilmer
(3) "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover," by Paul Simon
(4) "Sonnet 43," by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(5) "Charge of the Light Brigade," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
(6) "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(7) "Tommy," by Rudyard Kipling
(8) "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," by Robert Frost (again)
(9) "Inaugural Poem," by Maya Angelou