The Power of Words

Election season.   The time of the year when politicians use words to shame and fear.

Illegal immigrant.  Homosexual agenda.  Socialized medicine.

The last one I actually don’t have any problem with, but it generally comes up in a pejorative sense, as though we’re on the brink of collapsing under a Stalinist regime.

To answer back the insidious rhetoric, I decided to feature some activist poetry this week.  First, on the immigration issue, I found this excellent verse on La Bloga by poet/artist Tom Sheldon. Then, a far inferior poem I wrote in response to Tea Party-approved New York State Governor candidate Carl Palladino.

If you don’t know the backstory on Palladino you can read it here.

THEY

by Tom Sheldon

~

THEY have no home,

have no family nor rights.

They have no feelings,

living on warm water and sardines.

They are from another world.

They sneek in the night,

averse to clubs and bullets.

They miss their families.

They are saddened to leave home.

They are desperate,

risking their lives.

For a dream.

~

TO CARL PALLADINO, FROM A DYSFUNCTIONAL HOMOSEXUAL

by Andrew J. Peters

~

The dysfunction, you see,

Is not about me.

~

I like watching men grind up on each other,

But drop your gay hang-ups like blaming the mother,

My enjoyment of sex is completely intact,

Like all well-adjusted adult men in fact,

I’d think you’d agree this is hardly a crime,

You like women so much, you like two at a time,

I wouldn’t call you a dysfunctional straight,

Perhaps overfunctioning would be one complaint.

~

The thing I see that’s not functioning so well,

Is the hawks and the clery who condemn gays to hell,

The same people who seem to have nothing to say,

When ten kids rape a neighbor because he is gay,

Something’s not working when a pride celebration,

Tops of the list of issues that pique moral damnation,

And the young (and not so young) need to dole out shame,

In order to feel as strong as they proclaim.

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