My heart goes out to those who died in the recent tragedy, and -- perhaps even more -- to those who are left in shock.

"...and everywhere
the ceremony of innocence is drowned;
the best lack all conviction, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity..."
--Yeats
The Second Coming

Indeed.

I hesitate to comment, much less demur; but I must question the aptness of this quote. I do not think that our contemporary "best" lack all conviction--unless by "best" you mean the likes of Bill Clinton, whose true legacy we may now begin to comprehend.

Many wise and decent people warned what would happen if we kept such a poltroon in the presidency. Maybe the "best" have gone unrecognized, but they do exist.

I was born in New York, and I grieve for my home town.

Alan Sullivan

And the poltroon has been succeeded by the moron. It
made me even more heartsick to see Bush mouthing his
stupid speech with the usual mindless "school-play" expression on his face---his handlers must have said,
Look concerned. I was wondering which president would
be best to have in charge at such a time: not Clinton certainly, nor Bush (the other draft-dodger), nor
Carter, nor Reagan...Jesus, you'd have to go all the
way back to Eisenhower or Truman.
I also thought of that wonderful line in Justice's
pantoum about the Great Depression, "Thank God no one
said anything in verse," hoping that nobody would say anything now, but damned if I didn't find two really wretched poems on my email screen this morning, one
by Stephen Dunn and one by William Meredith. Both of
them have written some good things at one time or
another, but my God, the arrogance ---to think you
could sit down and on the spur of the moment grind out something adequate to the event.

the correct Latin is "in memoriAm".

I have to say I agree with Bob...

(but not about the Presidents-- Bush is doing OK, and I don't really care if he seems smart...and to tell the truth, Clinton's finest moment was his demeanor during Oklahoma City. Democracies are healthier when we aren't ruled by Great Men, but by Chirac and Schroeder, Blair and Bush. The World-Historical figures are Khomeini and Quadaffi, Ladin and the Taliban war-lords.)

...I really hope that there won't be a spate of hasty and ill-conceived poetic projects as after Columbine. To say obvious things isn't poetry, and to say less obvious things takes time.

Say "buffoon" rather than "moron," Bob, and you might get a poem with "poltroon" as the predecessor rhyme.

Bush is no genius, but it takes no genius to recognize evil. Brilliant Bill didn't know evil when he shook its hand--or took its money.

A lot of rethinking is needed.

A.S.

P.S. Thanks to gray for the spell-check.

Clinton had his virtues, Alan, but you can't see them because you don't agree with his politics. He went through a long learning curve when he first got in the office, but towards the end he was a very competent president. I would feel much more secure right now with Clinton in the office than President Howdy Doody. However, even with H.D. in the office, I have to say that even an ordinary man can do a decent job if he listens to his advisors. Bush's saving grace may be that he knows he's not up to the task.

Incidentally, if Clinton had run, he would have won hands down. Gore won the popular vote, yet Clinton was much more popular than Gore.

[This message has been edited by Caleb Murdock (edited September 13, 2001).]

From the days of Homer to Homer Simpson:

a politician is an arse upon
which everyone has sat except a man

Pardon e.e.'s obvious (generational) sexism but the sentiment still remains. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but they're far far fewer than one would hope.

Caleb--sorry to hear about your dad. AnaisK--thanks for the Yeats.



[This message has been edited by nyctom (edited September 13, 2001).]

I just hope those silly Nostradamus quotes and the like that are running around on the internet these days won't spur people on to think of Armageddon and other misplaced fantasies.

I just hope the atrocities won't be the excuse for new atrocities. Retaliation against whoever did it - fine. But will it get out of hand? Much as many may think this is the wrong time to say it, the US has gathered a lot of innocent blood on its hands, and I fear this terrorist attack will be used as an excuse for more.

---

Svein Olav

.. another life

[This message has been edited by Solan (edited September 14, 2001).]