Fake Checks
As Twitterites do fact-checks, which are really only fake,
confusing truths with their opinions is their main mistake.
But censoring the voices that they do not want to hear,
is neither good, nor valu’ble; it is a kind of fear.
One needs to get out of one’s bubble, get out of the booth.
One needs to weigh all kinds of views, when striving for the truth.
The Twitterongs have got it wrong, confusing their beliefs,
with facts! That’s what they are condemning in their enemies.
How strange it is, when people have the freedom to refute,
they cannot see that others do as well. It don’t compute!
Loose Lips
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” —Ronald Reagan
Let each and every tweet be free
to sing in silken reverie
to soar with creativity
to spit its ire and devilry—
to speak.
Let each and every tweet be free
to flirt with nonconformity
to blurt its eccentricity
to spurt its blue hilarity—
to shriek.
Let each and every tweet be free
to blush in hushed humility
to bray in boastful revelry
to weigh both truth and treachery—
to seek.
Let each and every tweet be free
to smite the wily piety
that tethers tongues alleged to be
the absolute epitome
of hate.
Let each and every tweet be free
to harmonize or disagree
to gladden you and sadden me—
don’t let the biased powers that be
dictate.
Let each and every tweet be free
to grumble with impunity
to spill the spiel that’s non-PC
before the loss of liberty’s
our fate!
Line 3:
“But censoring the voices that they do want to hear,”
Should that be:
“But censoring the voices that they do NOT want to hear,”?
Thank you, Ms. Marsh, this has been updated.
You’re welcome!
A welcome antidote to, or at least change from, the relentless if skillful anti-Trump poems on Light. Thanks.
I recall when LIGHT was run by John Mella, and was actually open to different viewpoints and ways of thinking. Now it has been captured by left-wing vermin.
Dear Susan
Thank you for being the voice of reason and freedom. And thank you for Loose Lips. There are many ships for them to sink – but you keep us afloat with charm and sense.
It’s lovely to hear from you, Jan, and thank you very much for your kind voice of support. In an increasingly authoritarian world, every single voice of opposition counts. Onward and upward, my friend in poetry, reason and freedom.
All the leftist turds in Twitter
Should be flushed right down the shitter.
If they want to be like Pravda,
Saying that all users havta
Follow certain “party lines,”
Let’s hit them with some hefty fines —
Or failing that, let’s pay a torch
To flame their HQs till they scorch.
All of these poems, including the good doctor’s, hold up free speech remarkably well. Without free speech we’re lost.
Composing poetry is a complex process, which, like in any field, requires the full force of the intellect, the fullest resources of emotional depth, musicality, spiritual reservoirs, and histrionic energy. And marshaling all these, as well as other powers; for success is a case of hit and miss. And, taking possibly a cue from Mallarme, one has to somehow purify the language of the tribe with words.
I would say that Esca Webuilder’s attempt is a definite miss, with some qualifications.
1. Immediate poetic responses to political events are rarely of a high order. Even those, which are most famous, like Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade”, have their detractions as well. However, Tennyson’s poem, because of the nature of the event, the massacre of British soldiers, manages to speak with several memorable lines, such as “Theirs but to do and die”. This Mr. Webuilder neither has nor supplies.
2. As a poem that was rushed and editor-driven, it contained several errors: the typo Ms. Marsh pointed out; bad puns, like “Twitterongs”, and unthoughtful, exaggerated rhetoric.
3. Nevertheless, there are some poetic devices in play in this tennos: meter, rhyme, alliteration, a clipped diction, repetition, contemporary phrasing, and occasionally subtle puns,
4. This poem seems to sit at the edges of Mortimer Adler (1902-2001), a 20th century NeoAristotelian, first, in his discussion of truth v. opinion and belief v. fact; but most particularly in his use of the oddly judgmental word “mistake”. [Throughout Adler’s book, “Ten Philosophical Mistakes” Adler relies largely on Aristotle and Aquinas, debunking, among others, Locke, Hume and Kant.]
5. So, although the poem is competent and contemporary, it is not extraordinary, nor eternal.
6. Here is its latest form:
As Twitterites do fact-checks, which are sometimes merely fake,
confusing truths with just opinions is a main mistake.
And censoring the voices that one does not want to hear,
is neither good, nor valu’ble; it is the voice of fear.
One needs to get out of one’s bubble, get out of the booth.
One needs to weigh all kinds of views, when striving for the truth.
The Twitterites have got it wrong, confusing their beliefs,
with facts! That’s what they are condemning in their enemies.
How strange it is, when people have the freedom to refute,
but cannot see that others do too. It does not compute!