• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Friday, September 4, 2026
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Poetry Beauty

‘Brainwashed and Hopeless’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick

July 16, 2024
in Beauty, Poetry, Satire
A A
20
poems 'Brainwashed and Hopeless' and Other Poems by Russel Winick

.

Brainwashed and Hopeless

My old friend is a doctor—very bright,
But he just said to me the GOP,
Opposed equality and human rights,
Here’s how such nonsense likely came to be.

Conservatives must not be in his sphere,
Or else it wasn’t politics they spoke.
So everything he watches, reads, and hears,
Is solely talking points among the woke.

I’ve thought of “coming out” politically,
But value’s found in friendships held since youth,
And there’s some risk that he might cancel me,
The Left can’t handle inconvenient truth.

His self-induced brainwashing’s so complete,
He’d never hear the music in my song.
His mind so poisoned, nothing I’d entreat,
Would make him see that he’s completely wrong.

.

.

Two Types of Thought Today

There seem to be two camps of people now.
The first looks to the truth for what they know.
The second disregards all facts somehow,
And just believes what they wish to be so.

.

.

Projection

You always learn what Democrats have brewing,
By what they claim Republicans are doing.

.

.

The “Ascension” of Kamala

Despite the wicked Jill’s determination,
To use Joe past his expiration date,
It’s obvious his mind’s degeneration,
Is what will surely soon decide his fate.

And given politics that likely means
The Dems, whose platform is that Trump’s the liar,
Will craft convenient words behind the scenes,
The MSM will use to deify her.

.

.

Hummingbirds

Their delicate, idyllic, whirring wings,
Make them, methinks, the loveliest of things.

.

.

Russel Winick recently started writing poetry after ending a long legal career. He resides in Naperville, Illinois.

ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here

RandomPoems

‘Lyric’s Breath’ by John Robinson
Beauty

‘Lyric’s Breath’ by John Robinson

January 27, 2017

“This foyer of the spirit is the seat of a sovereign.” - Anca Rosu The lyric lures release of thought,...

A Poem on Rubens’ ‘The Hippopotamus Hunt,’ by Casey Robb
Beauty

A Poem on Rubens’ ‘The Hippopotamus Hunt,’ by Casey Robb

May 4, 2024

. The Sultan’s Aging Son Recalls the Hippo Hunt “The Hippopotamus Hunt” by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1615-1616 “The sultan...

Next Post
‘Freedom of Speech vs. the NBA’: A Poem by Drilon Bajrami

'Freedom of Speech vs. the NBA': A Poem by Drilon Bajrami

‘The Small Commission’: A Poem by Paul Erlandson

'The Small Commission': A Poem by Paul Erlandson

‘Colors’ by Kukai, Translated by Joshua C. Frank

'Colors' by Kukai, Translated by Joshua C. Frank

Comments 20

  1. Cynthia Erlandson says:
    2 years ago

    These are just marvelous, Russel! I am laughing out loud. “To use Joe past his expiration date” is brilliant. (Not to mention true, as all of these poems are).

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      2 years ago

      Cynthia – you are entirely too kind, but thank you.

      Reply
  2. Roy Eugene Peterson says:
    2 years ago

    The first four poems cleverly illuminate the true state of the hopeless politically impaired. I agree Jill is behind the one on the throne and pushing for all she is worth, which is not very much.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      2 years ago

      Thank you Roy, I’m glad you liked them.

      Reply
  3. Paul Freeman says:
    2 years ago

    I like hummingbirds, too.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      2 years ago

      They bring instant joy, every visit.

      Reply
  4. Brian A. Yapko says:
    2 years ago

    These are all great Russel — funny, sharp, observant, accurate. Brainless & Hopeless and the Ascension of Kamala both especially hit the mark. American politics is an unending source of great satire. I wish it were less so.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      2 years ago

      Thanks Brian – I truly appreciate your observations.

      Reply
  5. Warren Bonham says:
    2 years ago

    Entertaining and accurate across the board. I think I know your Doctor friend, or it may sadly be that there are many like him.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      2 years ago

      Thanks Warren. He poses a challenge for me, but it’s comforting to know that I’m not alone.

      Reply
  6. Joseph S. Salemi says:
    2 years ago

    About your first poem — doctors may be competent physicians, but they are frequently political idiots.

    I’ve been in academia for over fifty years. I can assure you that many people with advanced degrees and scholarly publications are as stupid as bags of rocks when it comes to politics and government.

    Don’t worry about being cancelled. You don’t need friends who “can’t handle inconvenient truth.”

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      2 years ago

      Joe – I’ve had that thought as well, but I’m loathe to risk a close 50 year friendship. We stood up for each other at our weddings.

      Reply
    • Patricia Allred says:
      2 years ago

      Hi Joseph, Enjoyed your comment to Russell!! I am glad to say, my physician is a GOP and Trump supporter! Even better, I read some of my poerty to him. while wearing MAGA gear. A delightful Republican! As as you!
      Can relate to the “bagsof rocks of rocks.” Ugh! I know too many of them.

      Reply
  7. Margaret Coats says:
    2 years ago

    Russel, your couplet on hummingbirds fits them perfectly. It’s small and delicate just like the subject, and timeless enough for any collection of bird poetry as well.

    The “Ascension” is the most troubling of the timely poems. I’m afraid it could supply you with plenty of material for future work. More than words are needed to “deify” someone, however much speaker or writer may try.

    Hold on to that hopeless friend if you can–which is not certain. You are right about the value of long-held friendships. They are founded on many experiences more real than his opinions about what he “wishes to be so.”

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      2 years ago

      Margaret – I love everything that you say. Your ability to comprehend my poems, and see things in them that sometimes I don’t, is truly amazing to me. I really can’t thank you enough.

      Reply
  8. Cheryl Corey says:
    2 years ago

    Love the “Hummingbirds” couplet and use of “methinks”.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      2 years ago

      Thanks so much, Cheryl. I was very happy – unusually so – with that poem as well.

      Reply
  9. Sally Cook says:
    2 years ago

    Sharp observations, every one. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      2 years ago

      My pleasure, Sally – glad you liked them and thanks for commenting.

      Reply
  10. Daniel Kemper says:
    2 years ago

    Love “expiration date.” Love the hummingbird. Agree with Margaret–hang on to friends if you can. I’ve got friends at all extremes of any spectrum you could want. Sometimes the dance is difficult, but that’s just it: There’s something more to human connectivity than similarity. Back to Eliot for a quick flash, quoting from the hip: “And so I pray you to forgive both bad and good.”

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


  1. Margaret Coats on ‘A Prayer of Aristotle’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsSeptember 4, 2026

    Thanks, Bruce, you offer luxurious appreciation of valuable prose which is mostly Greek to us, even when we've learned to…

  2. Margaret Coats on ‘Humdrum and Harum-Scarum’: A Lecture on Free Verse, by Robert Bridges (1922)September 4, 2026

    Thank you, Phillip Whidden, for recommending this essay. It's worthwhile comprehending the issues as an intelligent poet and critic understood…

  3. BDW on ‘A Prayer of Aristotle’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsSeptember 3, 2026

    The Prose Apartments by Esiad L Werecub Along the highway of communication, one can find the prose apartment paragraphs conveniently…

  4. Kimberly Fore on ‘A World Without the Wednesday Child’: A Poem by Kimberly ForeSeptember 3, 2026

    Thank you all for your kind words, and some to chew on. It is encouragement to press on.

  5. Cynthia Erlandson on ‘A Potpourri of Aphoristic Verses’ by C.B. AndersonSeptember 3, 2026

    Getting older makes us colder. Sweaters in summer are a bummer.

Subscribe to Daily Poems

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,634 other subscribers

Recent Poems

  • ‘A Potpourri of Aphoristic Verses’ by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘The Estuary’: A Poem by Jeff Eardley
  • ‘A World Without the Wednesday Child’: A Poem by Kimberly Fore
  • The 2026 Society of Classical Poets International Poetry Competition
  • The 2026 SCP International High School Poetry Competition
  • ‘Realistic Reflections’ and Other Poetry by Anna J. Arredondo
  • ‘China Made’: A Poem by Theresa Werba
  • ‘The Savage Moon’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko
  • Poetry Book Review: Love Found, Yearned For, and Lost by James A. Tweedie
  • ‘When Opportunity Knocks’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson
  • ‘Legend of the Griffin’: A Poem by Iryna Hall
  • ‘Government Issue’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi
  • ‘Chaucer Announces His Desire to Retire’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman
  • ‘Advantages of Restaurants’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick
  • ‘Bone China’: A Poem by Mary Gardner
  • ‘On the Death of One Too Young to Die’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann
  • ‘This Too Shall Pass’ and Other Poetry by Justin Dasher
  • ‘Humdrum and Harum-Scarum’: A Lecture on Free Verse, by Robert Bridges (1922)
  • ‘Unrest On the Floodplain’: A Poem by Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano
  • ‘Latitude and Loss’: A Poem by Martin Briggs
  • ‘Act III’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘God’s Funeral’: A Poem by James Sale
  • ‘Star Festival’: A Poem by Margaret Coats
  • ‘Song of the Frog Princess’: A Poem by Scharlie Meeuws
  • ‘The Odyssey: Nolan and Solot Compared’: An Essay by Michael Curtis
  • ‘Solitude’ and Other Poems by Mary Jane Myers
  • ‘The River Not Taken’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko
  • ‘Totentanz’: A Poem by James A. Tweedie
  • ‘In God Is Our Trust’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson
  • ‘Confession’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann

Categories

  • Acrostic
  • Alexandroid
  • Alliterative
  • Art
  • Best Poems
  • Blank Verse
  • Chant Royal
  • Classical Poets Live
  • Clerihew
  • Covid-19
  • Deconstructing Communism
  • Educational
  • Epic
  • Epigrams and Proverbs
  • Essays
    • Interviews with Poets
    • Poetry Reviews
  • Featured
  • From the Society
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Human Rights in China
  • Limerick
  • Love Poems
  • Music
  • Pantoum
  • Performing Arts
  • Poetry
    • Beauty
    • Children's Poems
    • Culture
    • Ekphrastic
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Humor
    • Riddles
  • Poetry Challenge
  • Poetry Contests
  • Poetry Forms
    • Curtal Sonnet
    • Haiku
  • Poetry Readings
  • Rhupunt
  • Rondeau
  • Rondeau Redoublé
  • Rondel
  • Rubaiyat
  • Sapphic Verse
  • Satire
  • Science
  • Sestina
  • Shape Poems
  • Short Stories
  • Song Lyrics
  • Sonnet
  • Symposium
  • Terrorism
  • Terza Rima
  • The Environment
  • Translation
  • Triolet
  • Video
  • Villanelle

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Submit Poetry
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.