We have lost and are rapidly losing our "Basic Trust"!
Not in: each other, our family, our friends, our neighbors, even those who have a different mindset than ours; instead in those who are erasing the foundational structure of our previous known social arrangement of The United States of America!
Trust once broken carries a wound scar perhaps forever.
Don't blame each other, at this point in time hold those who are the "shredders" responsible and accountable.
Pulling those quotes out of a news story and arranging them in a poem magnifies their meaning & feeling. It’s a great way to increase understanding of complex news situations. This type of poem takes me back decades when two Iowa lawyer-poets, Curt Sytsma of Des Moines and William Kevin Stoos of Sioux City, would do “news poems” frequently in the Des Moines Register. Those had huge followings. That kind of poetry is a service to us all.
Putin's War
I have words, a poem.
And thoughts yet to be words.
But I cannot see the words,
black paper, black ink.
Black ink or red blood,
no matter on black paper,
though bombs in the night
a brief flash to write?
My screen close enough.
Still bodies left lying in the street,
turning paper black, ink black.
Phil Specht 3-15-22
Very evocative, Phil! Thank you for sharing!
I love this, and the idea of using the news as a launching pad for poetry.
Thanks, Barry. And you really nailed your column today!
Very creative idea, Susanna!
Thank you, Cheryl! It was an interesting exercise.
😒no comment
You nailed it Suzanna!
We have lost and are rapidly losing our "Basic Trust"!
Not in: each other, our family, our friends, our neighbors, even those who have a different mindset than ours; instead in those who are erasing the foundational structure of our previous known social arrangement of The United States of America!
Trust once broken carries a wound scar perhaps forever.
Don't blame each other, at this point in time hold those who are the "shredders" responsible and accountable.
The trust line was very powerful.
I'd be interested to know how many of these farmers voted for Trump. Around my part of Iowa it's about 90%. Difficult to muster any sympathy for them.
The article addresses that. Most of them.
I would guess that most of the farmers who were not paid the promised food-to-table, child care, and school grant funds did not vote for him.
Hard to know!
Also an Iowan living in a rural community. Will follow with interest. And love the poem- conveys the feelings/ reactions in one spot
Thank you for your comment, Megan. The quotes really struck me so it was interesting to play with them in a different context.
We are all saddened. Trust means something in rural areas. I am wondering if trust is now only among our very own?
Pulling those quotes out of a news story and arranging them in a poem magnifies their meaning & feeling. It’s a great way to increase understanding of complex news situations. This type of poem takes me back decades when two Iowa lawyer-poets, Curt Sytsma of Des Moines and William Kevin Stoos of Sioux City, would do “news poems” frequently in the Des Moines Register. Those had huge followings. That kind of poetry is a service to us all.
I’m glad for the message wrapped in the poem. I hear desperation. I hear betrayal. I mourn farmers being knee capped by DOGE/Trump.
We owe a debt of gratitude for farmers’ persistence in the face of adversity. But how will they survive this?