Politics … as Usual

   Kansas poet laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg has just announced that the PBS NewsHour crew will not be coming to Emporia, Kansas after all to cover the poetry reading scheduled for Saturday, April 14, choosing instead to focus on the seemingly never-ending Republican presidential primary race. Given a chance to see what’s going on in the lives of real people with real problems and concerns, and specifically to explore the controversy surrounding the funding of the arts in the Sunflower State, PBS flat blew it. You know, it’s not like we don’t get enough coverage of the candidates already, and it’s not like the commercial networks are regularly going out of their way to examine the state of the arts in Kansas and elsewhere. At any rate, the “party” will go on as planned in Emporia, even if native Kansan Jim Lehrer of PBS fame intends to be a no-show (not that this was necessarily going to be his assignment for the day).

Ad Astra

Ad Astra, precariously perched on Capitol’s dome,
Looks north but in vain to see buffalo roam,
Deftly draws his bow, arrows at the ready,
Takes aim at the target … steady, steady.

Governor’s orders: it’s the poets he’s after –
These soothers of souls, these purveyors of laughter;
But then who will speak oft of love and beauty
If there are no poets to do their duty?

Angry men, voices raised, stroll corridors below –
They’ve no use for bards or the seeds they sow;
Red Man’s in his place, but the refugee can’t stay –
Pride and prejudice, the order of the day.

“Oh, the humanities,” some senator screams,
“We can’t afford these literary themes –
Statehouse repairs cost a goodly sum …
A statue of Toto? There’ll never be one!”

The sound of music’s not heard in the schools –
The axe has fallen, austerity now rules;
Potters and sculptors are begging for bread,
Aspiring authors, they’re as good as dead.

Thespians in costume aren’t seen on the stage –
How much we miss Inge and the golden age;
Officials in lockstep form battle lines –
It’s a culture war, a sure sign of the times.

Chautauqua, Chautauqua, we long for you!
Oh, to return to the world we knew …
Oratory, discourse, classical dance –
Civility, honor, true blue romance.

The prairie poets valiantly press on –
Clymer, Greene, White and Stafford all gone;
With tears in our eyes and an ache in our hearts,
Welcome to Kansas, sad state of the arts!

Copyright 2012