#david plotz

Jonah Under the Treeby Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574) The book of Jonah is based on the life of a nationalistic prophet who lived during the days when Jeroboam II was the king of Israel (2 Kings 14:25). Most people who read the book of Jonah emphasize the miracle of the great fish swallowing the prophet and miss completely what the book has to say about Jonah’s God. Readers of the book of…

With the first month of the new Administration behind us—and what a month it has been—many of us are pining for the “no drama Obama” years. We didn’t wake up each day with dread that the Republic might have been snatched from us overnight. We didn’t assume that the news was fake. We didn’t think our government officials might be colluding with those who would destroy us. 

And as David Plotz, former editor of Slate, observed recently on the Slate Political Gabfest—“One of the things that is quite remarkable about (Obama): You have an eight year Presidency, not a whiff of scandal—no personal scandal, no financial scandal. It’s been an extraordinarily ethical, cleanly run Administration. He behaves with dignity and grace on every occasion. He’s been Presidential in the best possible way.” 

For those of us who wish we could go back to those days, after 31 days of chaos and disruption, I am providing here a poem by my friend Peter Bonner, who sums up what I think a majority of the country feels today on President’s Day. 

Our Last Good Man 

Perhaps the drones trouble your rest,

Or the raging son of a Guantanamo father,

Or the Allepo mother who does not want to see tomorrow.

 Perhaps

 We don’t know this job and never will.

We only imagine:

Ends justifying means, means, means, means,

Arsenals of means,

Means that crowd out ends.

How do you still the hand that engages those means?

 How do we honor what you chose not to do?

We can only imagine that groaning database.

You held this for us:

the not doing.

 Of course, you did

hold our safety

hold our laws 

hold our confidence

hold our health

pull us back from the precipice of financial disaster.

 You taught us again to believe again,

or at least to see and smell the spark

smouldering in the ash heap of Clinton’s depredations 

and Bush’s blase’ inattention to war crimes

and stealing from the poor. . .

 That spark of doing, every day,

what might help, ease a burden, afflict the powerful,

comfort . . .

and with grace, humor, even play.

 Distant, aloof, cerebral, cool, Spock

they called you.

Up against that I put . . .

playing ball

No one who shoots, drives, slams, 

demands the rock

is distant;

always engaged, always smirking, 

about to make you wish you’d practiced more.

They didn’t like it cause they couldn’t run with you. 

 Now the wilderness.

As one who speaks prophetically, 

you know the wilderness creates discipline

through its scarcity, 

forges sinew and muscle,

fosters focus and resolve for later.

We will need it.

 Go rest,

then come back and

speak to what is best in us,

hold us to account.

In this wilderness

we need a sip

a crust, a light.

 Farewell Barack 

©Peter Bonner, 2017 (used with author’s permission)

On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, while introducing the topic of Sarah Palin’s endorsement of @realDonaldTrump, David Plotz used the word “perfervid.”  I was immediately moved to finally get this first in a planned-to-be weekly blog posts done (I was on a walk at the time.)

In the 20 or so minutes since, I have tried to think of a better, more precise term, but to no avail.  “Perfervid” was

http://kanyefeed.nonissue.com/2015/03/04/is-kanye-wests-new-song-based-on-this-obscure-45-year-old-outtake-from-paul-mccartney-2/ - #KanyeWest #Kanye #yeezy

Is Kanye West’s New Song Based on This Obscure, 45-Year-Old Outtake From Paul McCartney?