politics and comedians

tonight's discussion went like this. comedy and poetry are closely related. particularly stand-up comedy and poetry. both use and are about language. both uses heterogenous ideas and images to make a spark, collect that moment of absurdity, whether it be light or tragic, that we all know well.

that was all agreed upon. papers can be written on comedy and poetry. seminars taught. poets could learn a great deal from the comedian george carlin. timing, metaphor, and even the usage of politics in the work.

that's when disagreement opened our talk. should politics as a subject and a force be a matter of poetry? when i was younger i was more of a mallermean and thought art should be free and unencumbered from polemicism and the strifes of the moment. but then i changed.

if everything is fit for poetry then politics is a worthy matter altogether. the past 9 years of u.s. political life has been nothing short of disheartening. i wonder how society can be so mean. i'm tempted to stop reading the paper, listening to the radio and reading the news on the net. i've gotten so pissed from the news the past few days, the supreme court's recent overturning of corporate campaign spending limits, brown's win in massachussetts which founders, i hope at least temporarily, the healthcare bill and so forth. is it a component of growing older to get more alarmed at the state of the world too?

love is a harder sell then hate and fear. yet love, i'm firmly convinced, is in the dna of poetry. it is easier to hate but poetry, which is language about the human mind, body and spirit, is essentially love oriented. poetry might want to fuck shit it up, like an old punk rocker, but in the end really says all we need is love.

back to politics. i do think it has its rightful place in poetry. i am currently reading the complete poems of gaius valerius catullus translated by ryan gallagher. the old roman poet was a lusty scag but he was also politically astute and wrote some of his poems about politics. take this one for example.

52

What now Catullus? Why delay your death?
The scab on the seat of Nonius is now on the throne
because Valtinius stole the consulship.
What now Catullus? Why delay your death?

there's a shitload going on in this short text but mostly it is the poet's horror of a politician. catullus even names names. now, it's not a polemic about policy but it is an overt political poem and the reader gets the not too subtle impression that nonius is probably a pretty bad guy.

and then there is jim mccrary who is i think a metaphysical poet. but he also writes about politics and like catullus mccrary names names. take these short pieces from the section 'the book of arrogance' taken from the poet's all that: the collected chapbooks.

fuck bill clinton

I fucking hate being made
the fool.

fuck isreal

You think you deserve to live
in a snake pit then don't ask
me to buy you a shotgun to
kill the previous occupants.

can poetry be any more political than these pieces? the anger is intense and nearly is holy in its purity as anger articulates itself beyond a guttural growl. anger becomes metaphysical and is a shout out for love.

as i said above, i've changed. i think politics can be a deep source for the poet and the poem. how well they the political poem turns out is a matter of timing, luck and talent. it's not necessarily the poem's subject that makes the poem not work or worse boring. there are plenty of love poems, or sex poems, or poems about grandma's alzheimer's disease, or post-language pieces about the fragmentary nature of our 21st century lives, that can be boring too.

politics has its place and that the time's might necessitate more political messages from its poets. doesn't mean that i shall turn into a political poet but that politics perhaps in this time right now might need more thought and attention.