America
Don't give that man your tears today
Though it's dark now you'll find a way
Now is the time to laugh, sing and create
Throw the bile back at his tangerine face
I call on the punks, the poets, the artists, the revolutionaries and the visionaries, don't let the spark be snuffed out in vain
Come together and show him how you'll make yourself great again
punk poetry punk poem Trump donald trump american politics political poem political poetry
If there is an analogy between Brexit and this win by
Donald Trump, it is the vanished trust.
Here, it was a result of the support by the incumbents of
Parliament for absorption into a power-grabbing political
entity whose aim was ascendancy over national sovereignty, with scant regard for the wishes, hopes and dreams of the various populations.
Over there, it was the result of disillusionment with a
similarly self-regarding political establishment that failed
to respond to its own people, their needs and aspirations.
I recall the sneers that greeted the election to office of
Ronald Reagan, disparaged as a "B-movie actor". But he
became one of the most successful and fondly remembered presidents in US history. Let's be optimistic
and give D. Trump the chance to be of use to his country and the wider world.
<Deleted User> (13762)
Thu 10th Nov 2016 17:20
hey Simon - despite my morning ramble rant I did take that message of hope from your poem and I agree wholeheartedly - we need to hold on tight for it's gonna be a rocky ride over these next few years that's for sure.
coincidentally - I've been reading a novel recently called American Rust by Philipp Meyer which is set in a former steel mill town in Pennsylvania. There's a good sense of dispossession, displacement and dereliction portrayed throughout the narrative. That same feeling was also something I came across whilst travelling through the States this summer - the crumbling infrastructure and poor housing stock - and I wondered how on earth things could come to this shocking state of disrepair - such massive lack of investment especially in poorer areas.
we see the same here and throughout many 'rich' countries yet we're told there is no money - that we have to endure austerity - yet somehow it just doesn't stack up. Insidious corruption pervades our democratic political systems - it seems the majority don't either see it or want to believe it exists.
yikes! - my morning ramble rant has turned into an afternoon ramble rant - best shut the fuck up quick!
Thank you guys for the comments/feedback. I wanted to write something with hope rather than despair (I've already seen the anger across the States this morning on social media and mainstream news) like Brexit, we do need to come together and now work towards a more progressive ideal rather than in-fighting
<Deleted User> (13762)
Thu 10th Nov 2016 08:31
good to hear elP's optimism but I wonder if your call to arms is a tad wistful Simon - harking back to a day when poets, artists, students and the like took to their art and the streets in protest. I guess we have Facebook memes nowadays but I don't see much artistic revolt and Trump became President elect via an uprising of white middle aged blue collar workers in the Rust Belt.
As per Brexit, the established centre ground of politics had no answers for those who felt disaffected and adrift within their own society and neglected communities. If we are to have a revolution it should be based on reality and not falsehoods and platitudes. We bemoan the loss of industry to countries like China yet we continue to sell out to them at every opportunity and our politicians seem impotent or shit scared to stand up and say "no more". It doesn't take a genius to see why the Rust Belters have had enough and why they see a businessman and not a politician might offer them hope and salvation.
Most of the artistic world have their heads so far ensconced up their arses they cannot tell day from night and revolutionaries in the old sense of the word have taken to lurking behind the relative safety and comfort of an ethernet cable.
But I have faith in the 'visionaries' as long as the politicians give them free reign and don't allow their own vested interests to get in the way of alternative thinking. Elon Musk of Tesla (US) and Dale Vince of Ecotricity (UK) are two examples but they are up against the might of the motor and energy industries respectively. Sadly politicians appear blinkered to these new potentials as if pre-programmed to press the self-destruct button. And bizarrely, the visionaries they choose to ignore are precisely the ones that could bring industry and jobs back to the Rust Belts and make America Great Again.
It's Trump's turn now. Maybe he will succeed where his predecessors have consistently failed.
Thanks for posting Simon.
elPintor
Thu 10th Nov 2016 00:40
I so appreciate the attitude here, Simon. Let us not despair. He is one man in a country known for its political attitudes which sway cyclically back and forth. We are watching him.
No sparks dying here..may they all alight with all the more fervor for the sake of light.
elP
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elPintor
Fri 11th Nov 2016 03:57
Just a reference to MCs comment..did you know that Reagan was once a member of the communist party (that's what I've been told)? No offense, MC, but Trump, I can almost guarantee, is no Reagan..though (I have my doubts), I hope sincerely that he arises to the occasion of his coming presidency.
elP