Resistance Sonnet: June 2025
It ain’t a race to midterm ballot strokes.
Try fielding dreams of counter-cultural
beats, declarations fencing uniforms,
full street antipathy toward apartheid.
Send memos across chain link barricades.
Demand progression. Ratify free speech
and expectations. Burried hatchet noise
conflate ideals of tolerance with peace,
diminish checks and balances with mud-
be-slingin’ bullshit meant to ice the flame
unyielding. Senator Chuck Schumer
implores slow policy, so droll a drone,
unable action growing restless fists.
Impatience doth persist. “No Kings” we scream.
2 thoughts on "Resistance Sonnet: June 2025"
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I love your analysis of Schumer. LoL (He should take assertiveness lessons from Jim Jordah. he he he )
Reading this brought the Les Mis song into my head, “Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men.” Yeah, poetry is covered by the 1st Amendment, but there’s something more in poetry, and you’ve captured that. (Don’t ask me to name it. It’s a gut level reaction!)
“bullshit meant to ice the flame” love it! “so droll a drone” a wonderful device to use right there.
Have you read any of Pablo Neruda’s political poetry?
I have one teeny-tiny suggestion, and of course, you can ignore it. 😉 I think “doth” should be changed to “does.” Not only does “doth” shove the poem into the past at the end. I don’t think you want that. I think you want to remind your reader/listener of the past, but I think “doth” seems to weaken the finish. Also, “doth” has such a spongy sound. Does that make sense? That last line needs all the muscle you can find.
This is a wonderful poem. Well crafted. Every word “pays its rent” in the poem. 😎
Thank you for the suggestion on using “does” instead of “doth.”
I did want to invoke a sense of age to this piece by using the older language, making the “impatience” feel longer than what we experience right now. However, maybe I weighed so much on just that word as opposed to communicating the idea that these political struggles have persisted for much longer than what we are dealing with today.
I have not read any Pablo Neruda yet, but perhaps I should look into some of his work. Thank you very much.