Fake News
By Caud Sewer Bile
Fake news is rather difficult to say just what it is.
What’s fake to listeners could be what’s true to someone else.
And no news outlet can be free from slanting what they find,
and crafting articles that seem to fit their point of blind.
Fake news is rather like the news that someone else describes,
and doesn’t fit within the mindset of one’s local tribes;
for it is very hard to write about reality;
and truth is very hard to get from one’s locality.
All news is rather odd that way in that what one receives
can only matter to someone if it’s what one believes.
In the Final Act
By Cawb Edius Reel
Just one day after famous daughter Carrie Fisher died,
her mother Debbie Reynolds also passed away in stride.
Perhaps it was too onerous for her to take the loss;
to lose one’s child before one dies is a hard road to cross.
Unsinkable, though Molly Brown upon the screen could be,
when lovely Princess Leia left, the force left presently;
and Tammy list’ning to the whisp’ring cottonwoods above,
perhaps was overwhelmed by all the hardships borne of love.
A heart attack, and then a stroke, no singing in the rain,
oh, help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, there is only pain.
Bruce Dale Wise is a poet living in Washington State. He often writes under anagrammatic pseudonyms.
With freedom of the press and news before the printing press was invented, some news is bound to be fake as deliberate deception or mere hearsay. From newsstand tabloids to social media to the freedom and scope of the Internet, little can be practically controlled. Breaking news can already be broken news.
These are both well written with strong rhymes. It seems anymore all news is somewhat contrived in that the stories reflect the opinions of the media reporting. “Just plain news” is rare these days. The second poem is certainly a tragic story. Keep writing.
The fake news one was really fun. It was neutral while still being insightful. Now let me think of some constructive criticism. I wish some of the rhymes were like chimes: where they resound at the right times. It would’ve made it sound better. It wasn’t bad, and it can be tricky to pull off good rhyming in free-verse or in prose (I’ve personally written cringe worthy stuff), but that’s my hopefully helpful bit of advice, though it is a minor thing. The second piece had very well executed rhymes, but I liked the news one better, because I’m political.
Isn’t this kind of writing a good way of blowing off steam from news and politics? They were pleasing, so please write more.
Michael,
Nicely put: “Breaking news can already be broken.”
Debbie,
You are right, “Just plain news” is rare these days. I know it is an impossibility, but I like it more when journalists strive to achieve a truth-laden reportage.
The tragedy of “In the Final Act” is all the more poignant, because of the contrast of their screen characters, which brought them fame, to the conclusion of their lives. Achilles, in the underworld, pointed out, in Homer’s “Iliad,” life is superior to fame.
Blake,
You are right. I tried to be “neutral while still being insightful.” Even though you probably dislike the slant rhyme of the first couplet, I liked how it added to the dull, prosaic, abstract quality I was striving for. But the second couplet’s rhyme hits unexpectedly with “blind” where one would expect “view.” Of course, though the other rhymes are exact, they belong to the opening attitude.
I do enjoy your critiques; it gives an author a chance to explain the reasons he or she uses a particular technique. Of the two poems, I liked the second poem because of its iconic imagery.
Fake News travels. In loud whispered tones. Anyone with a radar sense knows where it hides. The best clue might be that when there is real fake news it probably is delivered in packages which contain those words; “fake news”.
Now that the news cycle on the deaths of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds is over, it is works like this tennos that will remain; but I imagine it too will be mostly incomprehensible in the future. How can one make something that will endure? or can one?