Tag Archives: American politics

Political poem: Matthew King, ‘Incendiary Song’

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Baby you’re the Reichstag
I’m setting you on fire
You no longer represent me
I’m immediate desire
Our constitution is suspended
on a fence of barbed wire
Baby you’re the Reichstag
I’m setting you on fire

I’ve cancelled your election
I’ve exposed your fatal flaw
Trapped in your reflection
we argued to a draw
The people want perfection
they love to be in awe
Baby you’re the Reichstag
my will is the law

Our union needs annulment
our wedding was a sham
The preacher stole the word of God
now he’s on the lam
He said he’d bless the devil
he didn’t give a damn
Baby you’re the Reichstag
who do you think I am

Like lightning this befell me
not you but I self-crowned
No court can now compel me
my power is unbound
I dare you try to tell me
my methods are unsound
Baby you’re the Reichstag
I’ll burn you to the ground

I’m rounding up your lovers
each one of them a liar
They tell me they don’t know you
say it’s me they most admire
Now I alone can save them
or throw them on the pyre
Baby you’re the Reichstag
I’m setting you on fire

*****

Matthew King writes: “Many, not on only one side of the political divide, have been watching for a “Reichstag Fire moment.” The thing about historical echoes is you’re never sure what you’re hearing is exactly what it sounds like, but with some things sounding like them at all is bad enough. A hat tip to Leonard Cohen, whose shade I seem to be channelling in this poem, and who would have turned 91 on Sept. 21. Leonard! thou shouldst be living at this hour; lucky for you you’re not, I guess.”

‘Incendiary Song’ was first published in New Verse News.

Matthew King used to teach philosophy at York University in Toronto; he now lives in what Al Purdy called “the country north of Belleville,” where he tries to grow things, counts birds, takes pictures of flowers with bugs on them, and walks a rope bridge between the neighboring mountaintops of philosophy and poetry. His photos and links to his poems can be found at birdsandbeesandblooms.com.

Photo: Reichstag Fire, 27 February 1933, public domain.

Couplets: Richard Meyer, ‘The Benighted States of America’

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now we, the people, willingly obtuse
and largely satisfied with self-abuse

elect a narcissistic psychopath
who rules with lies, incompetence, and wrath;

accept a healthcare system that’s a mess
and limp from life to death with less and less;

continue to dismiss without a care
the shit we dump in water, land, and air;

allow the filthy rich to have their way,
to run the world, to bleed us day by day;

abandon logic, reason, vital news
and swallow whole all sorts of crackpot views —

we piss away our brains, our soul, our nerve
and get the fucked up country we deserve

*****

Richard Meyer writes: “Current cultural and political circumstances have me feeling ornery, so I hammered out this verse about the great American democratic experiment. My caustic verse was partly inspired by the comments of various prominent writers throughout history, including Thomas Jefferson who said, “The government you elect is the government you deserve”.”

Richard Meyer, a former English and humanities teacher, lives in Mankato, MN. A book of his collected poems, Orbital Paths, was a silver medalist winner in the 2016 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards. He was awarded the 2012 Robert Frost Farm Prize for his poem “Fieldstone” and was the recipient of the 2014 String Poet Prize for his poem “The Autumn Way.” His poetry has appeared in a variety of print and online journals and has also received top honors several times in the Great River Shakespeare Festival sonnet contest. His most recent book, Wise Heart, is a memoir of his mother Gert who was born in poverty, came of age during the Great Depression, enlisted in the army during World War II, served overseas, and was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service performed during the Battle of the Bulge. His books are available through Amazon.

Photo by Fort George G. Meade is licensed under CC BY 2.0.