{"id":317973,"date":"2020-02-24T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T20:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=317973"},"modified":"2020-02-24T06:00:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-23T20:00:32","slug":"t-o-a-s-t-telling-old-age-sonnet-tales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/t-o-a-s-t-telling-old-age-sonnet-tales\/","title":{"rendered":"T.O.A.S.T: Telling Old Age Sonnet Tales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inspiration for this poem comes from Elizabeth Bishop, US Poet Laureate 1949: \u201cThe armored cars of dreams contrived to let us do many dangerous things\u201d and a painting by 15th\u00a0century painter Hieronymus Bosch, Tondal\u2019s Last Vision.
\n\u00a0
\nIn the Armored Cars of Dreams<\/strong>
\nProtection, perfection, putridity, and perfidy inside your head
\nmyriad mesmerizing selections while staying home in bed
\nfalling in and out of love, dreadful and \u00a0delightful daydreams
\nfalling sound asleep, before waking state, in sleep very deep
\ndeep inside Elizabeth Bishop\u201ds armored cars of dreams
\nreside volumes of laughter and night fright screams
\nREM speed developing, enveloping detriments and improvements
\ntime and temperature differential doesn\u2019t seem to matter
\nTondal\u2019s Last Vision scatters, splatters, pitter pitter patter
\nwalking on a wire, a wheel of death revolves slowly on fire
\na bed of glass, a bed of nails, a barge of death as dreamtime sails
\neast of Tinian dropping into the depths of the Marianas Trench
\nfumaroles, lava flows, a whale blows, submerged sulfuric stench
\nhigh seas, high speeds, polar bears plead, addicts need, ice feeds
\ntyphoons terrorize the night, sea birds in flight circling to the right\u00a0
\njaywalking, running across melting polar ice, shooting loaded dice
\nand so inside the armored cars of dreams I sleep and so do you
\nso real, surreal, \u00a0beyond reality, false memories, and some true.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

These two sonnets are dedicated to POTUS 45, D. J. Trump, on President\u2019s Day, Feb. 17. \u201cI speak not, I trace not, I breathe not thy name. There is grief in the sound, there were guilt in thy fame.\u201d
\n\u2014George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vainglorious, Fame Notorious,
\nShame Memorias<\/strong><\/p>\n

I tweet not and fear not autocracy and your name
\nthough I grieve at its sound, your guilt and your shame
\ntoo long in the White House you must soon depart
\nsorrow for our country resides deep in my heart
\nfor three years you have disturbed our nation\u2019s peace
\nwill House subpoenas and indictments ever cease
\nyou must cease\u2026 and desist, apologize and explain
\nplease retire to Mar A Lago to unite the US again
\nimpeached forever now your name is gilded with guilt
\ntoo much ethical and moral blood has been spilt
\nyour heart must bear it alone without your base
\nBarr & Giuliani can\u2019t share it or help you save face
\nnow vainglorious, vindictive, lacking in humility, phony
\nyour status a quagmire of lawsuits, lying, and acrimony.<\/p>\n

You Tweeted, You Lied, We Grieved<\/strong>
\n\u201cYou smiled, you spoke, and I believed by every word and smile deceived.\u201d
\n\u2014Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864)<\/strong><\/p>\n

You tweeted, you lied, we grieved
\nat every insulting word as you deceived
\nand wished that we would hear no more
\nand hoped it could be somewhat like before
\ndespite a vindictive nature your sycophants remain
\nas you continue lying and deceit again and again
\nthe Mueller Report your red base reads not
\nanointed with your power Giuliani breeds rot
\ntowards truth and transparency AG Barr speeds not
\nsomething\u2019s rotten in D.C. US Senators are amiss
\nseeming myopic to truth they all are denying
\nand with the exception of one, impeachment defying
\nwe hear the gasps and moans of our democracy dying
\nyour narcissism, instability, and ignorance the cause of all this.<\/p>\n

Joey ‘Pepe Batbon’ Connolly (Special to the Saipan Tribune)<\/strong>
\nJoey \u201cPepe Batbon\u201d Connolly is a retired teacher and has been named a poet laureate of Tinian. He has taught English in CNMI public schools for the past 30 years. He has also taught in Alaska, New Orleans, and Las Vegas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspiration for this poem comes from Elizabeth Bishop, US Poet Laureate 1949: \u201cThe armored cars…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-317973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}