Comments on: The Poetry of D.H. Rumsfeld

The Poetry of D.H. Rumsfeld

misterioso — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 15:08:56 -0800

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is an accomplished man. Not only is he guiding the war in Iraq, he has been a pilot, a congressman, an ambassador, a businessman, and a civil servant. But few Americans know that he is also a poet.

By: zanpo

zanpo — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 15:33:23 -0800

Let's try this again. let us start a war so we can make stuff go boom boom bitty boom boom Thank ewe, thank ewe. I'll be here all week.

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 15:36:39 -0800

[this is good]

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 15:38:49 -0800

Dammit misterioso! You found a palliative to this bitter truth. At least Rummy's not as overtly aesthetically stupid as Ashcroft.

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 16:02:59 -0800

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld or Pulitzer Prize winning prose-poet Charles Simic? They had a secret Which they were about to Make known to me-- And then didn't. - [A] ------------------------------------ We know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don't know We don't know.- [B] ----------------------------------- All I can tell you is, It hasn't happened. It's going to happen. - [C] ---------------------------------------- The obvious is difficult To prove. Many prefer The hidden. I did, too. - [D]

By: namespan

namespan — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 16:05:06 -0800

Stream of Consciousness brought about by this article: Found poetry, in a sortof "I tripped over it" way.... I suppose he's not part of Poets Against the War. Does anyone else think that it's immensely pretentious to call yourself a poet? Maybe it's just been that most all of the people I've known who use that label on themselves are pretentious. I write poetry sometimes, but I'll use that label the day that I get an award from somebody (who doesn't want me to pay them to accept it) or something.

By: RobbieFal

RobbieFal — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 16:34:16 -0800

Rumsfield could afford to deploy more lines onto his poems though. ;)

By: DaShiv

DaShiv — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 16:38:50 -0800

"Poet" is a rather pedantic label for what someone does. How pretentious is "I'm a thimble collector?" The label "poet" is only pretentious if you happen to actually subscribe to the idea that there's something special about poetry, or about the people who write it. When someone says he's a poet, my (suppressed) instinctive response is, "I'm sorry." Besides, real poets introduce themselves with "I'm a creative writing instructor."

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 16:47:15 -0800

Saddam keeps sayin' he's got something for us.. something he calls proof, but let's confess. He's been a-messin' where he shouldn't a-been a-messin'. Now someone else is gettin' all the best. Now, as I see it, these boots are made for walkin'.. and that.. that's just what they're gonna do. One of these days - I don't know the exact date, but sometime in the future - these boots are gonna walk all over 'im. Karen?* By the way, people who don't like poetry should try a poetry slam. Though competing in them can be nerve-wracking, I think they create better product than the oogly-googly atmosphere of a reading.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 16:49:42 -0800

He belongs on the same shelf with O Holy Cow!: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto:

Field of Butterflies Absolutely! If you don't get a little, A few butterflies, No matter what you do, On the first day of anything, You're not human April 21, 1991 New York at Kansas City Storm Davis pitching to Steve Sax First inning, no outs, bases empty (First batter, opening day) No score My Secret When I'm driving To Yankee Stadium and back, I do it so often. I don't remember passing lights. I don't remember paying tolls Coming over the bridge. Going back over the bridge, I remember... August 19, 1992 Oakland at New York Mike Moore pitching to Mel Hall Fifth inning, one out, bases empty Yankees lead 4-1

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 17:23:42 -0800

Clearly inspired by the poetry of Ewen McTeagle.

By: muckster

muckster — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 20:13:55 -0800

Who does this guy think he is? Buckaroo Banzai?

By: LouReedsSon

LouReedsSon — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 20:15:49 -0800

A Confession Once in a while, I'm standing here, doing something. And I think, "What in the world am I doing here?" It's a big surprise. Alot of us feel that way Don.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 22:27:39 -0800

Besides, real poets introduce themselves with "I'm a creative writing instructor." heheheheh. Funny link!

By: Eirixon

Eirixon — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 03:43:26 -0800

Taken out of context, I find it to be some quite nice pieces of poetry. Happenings You're going to be told lots of things. You get told things every day that don't happen. It doesn't seem to bother people, they don't— It's printed in the press. The world thinks all these things happen. They never happened. Everyone's so eager to get the story Before in fact the story's there That the world is constantly being fed Things that haven't happened. All I can tell you is, It hasn't happened. It's going to happen.

By: grrarrgh00

grrarrgh00 — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 07:19:27 -0800

I take back every bad thing I ever said about Donald Rumsfeld.