Political Poems
BETTER THAN, AND AKIN TO, THE V.P. DEBATE [Here]
“Befoulers of the Verbiage”
It was an unfair attack on the verbiage
That Senator McCain chose to use,
Because the fundamentals,
As he was having to explain afterwards,
He means our workforce.
He means the ingenuity of the American.
And of course that is strong,
And that is the foundation of our economy.
So that was an unfair attack there,
Again based on verbiage.
(Sarah Palin to S. Hannity, Fox News, Sept. 18, 2008)
~~~~~~
ANNUALS AND PERENNIALS
Telling it so simple, so far away,
as this America, home of the free,
colored ashes smeared on the base
or pedestal that flourishes ways of doubting
to be graceful, wave a slender hand…
We are fleet and persecuting
as hawks or crows.
We suffer for the lies we told, not wanting to
yet cupped in the wristlock of grace,
teenage Borgias or Gonzagas,
gold against gray in bands streaming,
meaning no harm, we never
meant it to, this stream that outpours now
haplessly into the vestibule that awaits.
We have shapes but no power.
–John Ashbery, STATE OF THE UNION – 50 Political Poems (Wave Books)
~~~~~~
Poetry Politics Presidential Election 08 Satire Sexy Debate John Ashbery Political Poems Sarah Palin
AMY KING View All →
Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) Award. Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She co-edited with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She also co-edits the anthology series, Bettering American Poetry, and is a professor of creative writing at SUNY Nassau Community College.
AMY KING 
“Befoulers of the Verbiage” is eery,
like a cross between Cheney and
Miss South Carolina.
Just right: I needed a little something political, but not heartbreaking or terrifying, before I crash. Glad you’re on the job, Miz Alias.