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hey Tony...
....I'm curious as to whether you gre up around the town you now live in....and I particularily relate to sonnet 40....good stuff...
posted by
FranklyMydear1
on October 15, 2006 at 12:28 PM
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Well wrote Tony
Love the way, you mixed the present day with that of ancient Rome and its circus, so true about the vote and the standard we follow when voting. The standard of living. Enjoyed. Mike
posted by
lionladroar
on September 29, 2006 at 2:43 AM
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This is a very perceptive and amusing look at what's going on....
...someome said and I can't remember who, that the only type of people who would make a good politician are the type who wouldn't ever want to be one. I guess that settles that then!
posted by
nonconformist
on September 28, 2006 at 1:05 PM
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Thanks guys and gal
M-C: I'm not a political expert either. That probably comes across in the poem!! See my comments to Rarmcwa.
Rarmcwa - Thanks for stopping by - I know it's getting hard these days! I suppose you could say some of this poem is a bit cynical about the electorate. It's of course really hard to cover much in a couple of lines of a sonnet, but I just think the majority of voters vote with themselves in mind. If this coincides with the interests of the majority, which consists of the poor or the middle-class struggling to make ends meet, that's most often because the voter is themself in that category. I don't know how it works in the States, but in GB, over the last few years, a lot of richer votes have gone towards the Labour party - even Rupert Murdoch has supported them, but that is only because under Blair, labour became New Labour, and reoriented itself away from the poor and more into the middle ground, while wooing large business - something that just has to be done to get sufficient media and financial support. Even the Conservatives try to woo the working population - as do the GOP, no doubt, using various stratagems, but in effect they were really fighting for the middle-class vote (and the backing of the rich) to actually win the election. I used the word 'we' deliberately to show that I'm not placing myself any higher than people who understandably just want policies which will help them and their families. While they might care about the poor, and might admittedly refuse to vote on principle for a party that is not perceived to be for helping the poor, this is their choice, but not, i suspect the choice of the majority of voters subconsciously. Also, there are the increasingly large numbers of people who don't vote at all. I sometimes don't bother to vote because we don't, as I say in the poem, even get to vote for the leader or for national policies at all in GB - only for our local MP - an anachronism, I'm sure you'd agree. Enough already!
Dave - Thanks for your support. Would you vote for me? Would you support policies such as not allowing any inheritance to pass to our children, but that it should go directly into a pot for the good of all? And making people live nearer their work? And lots of really controversial stuff? I might stand. I think the Monster raving Loony party would be the natural party of choice, don't you?
posted by
Antonionioni
on September 28, 2006 at 12:24 PM
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Excellent, Tony. And as I've been watching it unfold on the news this week
I had the very same Mark Anthony speech in my head. Nothing changes, does it. Great work once again.
posted by
_dave_says_ack_
on September 28, 2006 at 3:26 AM
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political circus, I like that
who is the ring master,
where are the clowns?
Me, I am only a dumb spectator,
voting one way or another
does not matter
end results always a mess...
I know nooothing about politics, can't you tell???
posted by
marieclaire66
on September 27, 2006 at 11:24 PM
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Dear Tony
I'm a little confused by the lines - We vote according to our pockets, not / For good of all ...
Not to put too fine a point on it, but as the punchline of an ancient Lone Ranger joke goes, "What you mean we, White Man?"*
Many of us do try to vote for the good of all. But having been demogogued half to death by our supposed leaders, being largely ignorant of history and political theory, and seeking to keep body and soul together in the face of circumstances seemingly beyond our control (and far beyond our ken), too many of us make choices based on precisely the goofy, ephemeral concerns you address.
Great sonnet, Dude! Keep it up and we're gonna have to start paying you in American money!
* The Lone Ranger and his Faithful Redskin Body Servant, Tonto, ride into a canyon, turn into a draw, and see about 10,000,000 angry Indians blocking their way. They look behind them and see another 10,000,000 equally honked-off Native Americans are blocking their path of retreat. Looking up to the canyon walls above them, they see the rest of the Cherokee, Dakota Souix, Cree, Blackfoot, Potowatami and American Indian Movement tribes assembled to begin tossing boulders down upon them, and looking extremely eager to do just that. The Lone Ranger turns to Tonto and says, "Well, it looks like we're in a real fix this time, Tonto."
Tonto replies, "[See punch line, above, immediatly prior to astrisk]"
I think there may be a little lesson for all of us here. What it is, I am not so sure.
posted by
Rarmcwa
on September 27, 2006 at 4:44 PM
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