I wrote this after the Terri Schiavo fiasco had dominated the news, which replaced the Michael Jackson trial story, which replaced the Lacy Peterson story. Or was it the other way around?

The one thing James W. Hall would tell me is that I need to give my poems more of a timeless element.

I was approaching poetry like a journalist and writing about current events.

He said that even though the poem is very good, it will lose its appeal in a couple of years. He was right, of course, which is why I haven’t recited it onstage in a while.

Maybe one day when I’m inspired, I will rewrite it to give it that timeless element.

To me, humor is very important because laughter provides an immediate gauge as to whether the audience is getting it or not.

Anyway, here is The Media Circus:

The media circus is in town, everybody gather round
The caravan is rolling in, Look at that, it’s CNN.
Grab your signs, tell your friends, stand in front of the camera lens.
Your 15 minutes of fame is due, Here they come to interview you
Microphones thrusting, manners disgusting, are these people really that trusting?
The media circus is in town, everybody gather round
Broadcasting live, antennas high, they’re not going to let this story die
Spinning, grinning, talking heads, Hyping, lying Homeland feds.
Grab your signs, call your friends, stand in front of the camera lens.
Voice your opposition, to the politician, maybe you can make Inside Edition
Breaking news on Fox News; the Christian Right is always right.
The media circus is in town, everybody gather round
We’ve been down this road before, whatever happened to the war?
Jacko, Schiavo, Peterson on death row. Isn’t that Geraldo?
Grab your signs, call your friends, stand in front of the camera lens.
Pull the curtain, see for certain, what is happening with Haliburton.
Can’t you see, a new testimony, there was no, WMDs.
The media circus is in town, everybody gather round
Grab your signs, call your friends, stand in front of the camera lens.

You can always say that your poetry is Whimanesque, which it indeed is except for the fact that he eschewed rhyme in free verse unless unintended. In his early days he wrote a few rhymed poems and they are really atrocious. Your attempts at rhyme are more felicitous than his. There is also a great deal of humor in your poetry, absent in Whitman, which at times makes it read like Ogden Nash (nothing wrong in that).

You may prefer to be a troubadour; but, remember, eventually their songs get published too. Usually, it is the academics who tame them for their purposes hundreds of years after their death when they’ll have no say in it.

Poetry began in the oral tradition and that is when a poet is able to truly express his poem.

I’ve had a few academics criticize my poems because they have no form or because they rhyme too much, but these are people who would never go on stage to perform their poetry.

They’d rather publish it in thin books that get lost on book shelves.

Me, I’d rather sing it out loud while hearing a response from a crowd.

As for the poem itself, I liked it, though it either breaks most of the poetic conventions of formalist poetry or introduces a lot of formalism into free verse.

I love the Blind Boys of Alabama. They are the United States version of the Buena Vista Social Club.

They’ve been playing for decades, but only got international recognition less than ten years ago.

Happy Easter to all . . .

Thanks for the positive feedback. I was actually a little hesitant about posting this.

And I might take you up on your offer of videotaping some more footage.

I like the spirit of music in this state. it’s kinda free and unbridled, it’s giving me a lot of new ideas and directions to go.

Sigh.