Join us every Monday night for drinks at the Daily Kos community political poetry club
Your own poetry is always welcome in the comments
Bongos, berets & turtle neck sweaters optional
The keypad is mightier than the sword
This evening, in homage to some utterly nonsensical political subject matter, we offer you a Political Nonsense Alphabet, styled after Edward Lear.
Edward Lear is well known for his limericks (read to me by my father in my formative years, with results that - as my followers have seen - have affected me in profound and disturbing ways). He was also adept at other poetic forms, and illustration. You may remember him from "The Owl and the Pussycat" and other children's classics.
Edward Lear was born in Holloway, London. He father was a stockbroker and he was brought up largely by his sister Ann. He spent his early years first as a draughtsman for the Zoological Society, then as an artist for the British Museum.
In 1832 he was employed by the Earl of Derby to make coloured drawings of the rare birds and animals in the menagerie at Knowsley Hall. The Earl also allowed Lear the means to travel widely. He published accounts of his trips to Italy (1846), Albania and Illyria (1851), Calabria (1852), and Corsica (1870). He also visited the Holy Land and Greece.
He is chiefly remembered for his nonsense poetry, the first volume of which was written for his patron's grandchildren in 1846 and was simply entitled A Book of Nonsense. It contained Lear's favourite poetic format, the limerick, and was illustrated throughout. His poetry was henceforth marked by an air of ludicrous fantasy, as well as a unique inventiveness.
Lear's Nonsense Alphabet featured such charming children's verses as:
A was an ant
Who seldom stood still,
And who made a nice house
In the side of a hill.
Nice little ant!
B was a bat,
Who slept all the day,
And fluttered about
When the sun went away.
Brown little bat!
C was a camel:
You rode on his hump;
And if you fell off,
You came down such a bump!
What a high camel!
More can be found
here in his "Alphabet #1".
That's all well and good, but here at Indigo Kalliope, we must turn our attentions matters of greater gravitas: the political menagerie, in which we find some truly grotesque creatures among the candidates, pundits, endorsers, talking heads, and other eminently forgettable life forms.
So follow along below the bit of roadkill for your intrepid diarist's Lear-ical stylings, and please - as always - join in with your own contributions in the comments!
A for America
She deserves better
Than Mitt and a guy
In a blue sleeveless sweater.
Who'd really upset her.
B is for Bachmann
Who faded away.
Now she and her husband
Can "pray away gay".
(She's bat-shit, they say).
C is for Cain
Once the Tea Party's hope
But his deep fatal flaw
Was his penchant to grope
(Sell more pizzas, you dope!)
D: Democrats
Who must get out the vote
We can't rest on our laurels:
It's no time to gloat!
(Grab your hat and your coat!)
E: evangelicals
Spewing their bile
So smug in the knowledge
That God's on speed-dial.
(Christ, these people are vile!)
F for Fox Networks
Where truth goes to die.
When Obama does well
All their anchormen cry.
Then make up some lie.
G is for Gingrich
The odious Newt.
A sarcastic, bombastic
Blathering brute.
And disgusting galoot.
H is for Huntsman
Too smart for this crowd
With family in whom
He was no doubt quite proud
(Too bad that real brains weren't allowed)
I: Independents
Which way will they lean?
Will they fall for the crap
Of the Right-Wing machine?
It remains to be seen.
J is for jobs
But you won't hear a thing
On solutions Republican
Leaders would bring.
"Just cut taxes" they sing.
K is for Kossacks
Who blog here in throngs
In poetry, prose
And political songs.
Blasting GOP wrongs.
L is for Limbaugh
Whose sponsors have fled.
After vile and slanderous
Things that he said.
Will his broadcast go dead?
M is for money
From corporate "friends"
Without any limits
On what each PAC spends.
Democracy ends.
N is for neo-cons
Pushing for war
Although they themselves
Had deferments galore.
And their kids will get more.
O for Obama
Whom wing-nuts despise
As their party unravels
There's fear in their eyes
That they cannot disguise.
P is for Palin
Who waits in the wings
While grifting for costly
Material things.
That celebrity brings.
Q: Quinnipiac
With polling that shows
What will come in November?
Hell, nobody knows!
(That's how politics goes!)
R is for Romney
Who just can't relate
And like Seamus the setter
Who quaked in his crate.
GOP says "oh, great...".
S for Santorum
So smarmy and smug
Who can't bear two guys
In an amorous hug.
(Or a birth-control drug)
T for Tea Party
Once loudly they roared
But now fallen from glory
They're largely ignored
As the country grew bored.
U is for uterus
Unborn's first crib
Last bastion of battles
To scrap Women's Lib.
(By forced-birthers, so glib)
V for the voters
Who've suffered a lot
As the candidates vie
For the nominee spot
Things aren't looking so hot.
W for women
Attacked by the Right
They've unleashed a fierce tigress
Who's ready to fight!
GOP: say good night!
X for X-rated
Materials viewed
By the very same folks
Who say sex is too lewd
(And it must be eschewed)
Y for the youth
Who'll inherit this mess
Leading lives filled with worry
And financial stress.
(It's enough to depress...)
Z for the zygote
The Right Wing's concern
(Until they are born
At which time they'll turn
Into someone they spurn)
Now it's YOUR turn! There's no shortage of poetic talent here on DKos. Feel free to share your poetic contributions in any form: limerick, haiku, ode, sonnet, free verse, song parody, nonsense verse, or whatever suits your message and mood. Thanks for visiting Indigo Kalliope, now have some fun!