David X Novak

The Devil’s Triangle: McConnell, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh

10/6/2018

1. First Devil: Mitch McConnell

The voters chose to “switch to Mitch,”
Kentucky likes that kind of flam.
Who chose to make the Court his bitch?
You can when you have struck it rich,
And Mitch is rich, so “Thank you, Ma’am.”
The voters chose to “switch to Mitch”
And even though he pulled a switch
(A bait and switch) who gives a damn?
Who chose to make the Court his bitch?
The voters did: there was no glitch,
They love his wealth, approve his scam:
The voters chose to “switch to Mitch.”
What he has sworn went to the ditch:
Support? Defend? Not his program!
Who chose to make the Court his bitch?
McConnell did, so worked to stitch
Collusion’s web—yippee! Grand slam!
The voters chose to “switch to Mitch”
Who chose to make the Court his bitch.

2. Second Devil: Neil Gorsuch

His was no brilliant legal mind
But adequate (if dull) was Neil’s—
In ethics he fell far behind.
Law school is tough, the bar’s unkind,
But since he was the kind that steals....
His was no brilliant legal mind
But, bending, he some way could find
Even the way an orange unpeels.
In ethics he fell far behind
But a friend who the rules maligned
Figured a cheat, and turned the wheels.
His was no brilliant legal mind
But Gorsuch knew that men were blind
To subtle thefts, and backroom deals.
In ethics he fell far behind,
But when his buddy’s tricks aligned
He leapfrogged those who had ideals.
His was no brilliant legal mind:
In ethics he fell far behind.

3. Third Devil: Brett Kavanaugh

He was (they said) a sloppy drunk,
But had connections hard-to-get;
Skin lily-white, a wealthy punk
He claimed it put him in a funk
To be traduced. Yet pouty Brett,
He was (they said) a sloppy drunk
And it was proven, so with spunk
He railed against the sobriquet:
Skin lily-white, a wealthy punk,
He said, “That reputation’s bunk;
My soul is white.” His eyes were wet.
He was (they said) a sloppy drunk
Who, at a party, whipped his junk
In a girl’s face, and jacked it yet.
Skin lily-white, a wealthy punk,
He lied, but lies did not see sunk
His hopes—lies gained his coronet.
He was (they said) a sloppy drunk,
Skin lily-white, a wealthy punk.

Note: parts 1 & 2 were posted previously here and here; part 3 just moments ago today.

A Villain’s Villanelle (Brett Kavanaugh’s)

10/6/2018

The Country, When It Chose to Laud

10/3/2018

The country, when it chose to laud
The swindler and the cheat,
Itself condemned, and gave the nod,
To vigorous defeat.

Of mourners there were some, a few,
And some nostalgic wept,
But mostly no one cared, or knew,
But in soft slumber slept.

We few that noted what had passed,
Felt tears scald inwardly,
But mostly felt benumbed, aghast,
And sang no reverie.

The world itself moved on apace,
And Mother Nature nary
Took pause to notice human grace:
She had no time to tarry.

Alas, so much of promise, failed;
So much of glory, died;
And, truth and justice both assailed,
A people did subside.

Justice and Pity (or Possibly, Giustizia e Clemenza)

10/3/2018

“For justice and pity are a ruler’s greatest qualities.”

—line from Handel’s Serse which I saw last night at Haymarket Opera.

Here’s another one:

"One joy in love is worth more than a hundred turns of fortune."

Offhand I would say both are true, but here’s a caveat. The opera was sung in Italian and I’m reporting what I saw in the supertitles. When I was able to follow the Italian, it seemed that the translation was not literal and even a bit simplified or coarser than the original, but I was not able to follow when either of these lines were being projected, and I haven’t hunted a text for comparison’s sake.

The story was silly, the music wholly accessible (as Handel always seems to be), but you got the sense of a time when, though rulers might be imperfect and lovers unfaithful, humanity felt that it could do better and aimed higher.

We seem to have lost that in America.

Strength in Sonnets: Two Poems by Edgar Bowers

9/30/2018

I was looking into the Collected Poems of Edgar Bowers. Two outstanding poems appealed to me, and both were sonnets.

In the Last Circle

You spoke all evening hatred and contempt,
The ethical distorted to a fury
Of self-deception, malice, and conceit,
Yourself the judge, the lawyer, and the jury.
I listened, but instead of proof, I heard,
As if the truth were merely what you knew,
Wrath cry aloud its wish and its despair
That all would be and must be false to you.

You are the irresponsible and damned,
Alone in final cold athwart your prey.
Your passion eats his brain. Compulsively,
The crime which is your reason eats away
Compassion, as they both have eaten you,
Till what you are is merely what you do.

The Mirror

Father, I loved you as a child, and still,
When trouble bruises him whom I retrace
Back to the time I cannot know, I fill,
By my desire, the possible with grace
And wait your coming. Then I see my face,
Breathed by some other presence on the chill
Illumination of this mortal glass,
Gleam from the dark to struggle in your will.

In that fixed place, around me, others move,
Vivid with long conclusion, who, once dead,
Quickened the little moment I could prove;
And, though I seem to live, there, at my head,
As if the thought translating all I see,
He stands, who was my future, claiming me.

The Lack of Ethics Gorsuch Showed

9/30/2018

The lack of ethics Gorsuch showed
Accepting of a seat
That had been stolen, down the road
Seems destined to repeat.

As lo! a party candidate
Accepts the party vote
Who lies profusely, if not great,
His oath of minor note.

To be a judge, yet disregard
The way of law, impartial,
All jurisprudence to discard
Belligerent and martial;

Who parses his words to mislead,
Omits, obfuscates, lies,
And lo! what verdicts must succeed
Such bold hypocrisies?

To see a nation fumble, fall
Was never my desire,
But Gorsuch and his ilk, et al.
Have lit the raging fire.

So human nature often is
Though it might better be—
I sing my witness, much remiss
The travesty I see.

The Nominee’s Defense

9/28/2018

“You’ve ruined my reputation
By airing in the light
My history of predation
And acts of denigration
That by no estimation
Could ever have been right.

“What I — and all my buddies —
Have done, felt good to us,
But accusation muddies
Our name as goody-goodies:
When we were having woodies
Nobody made a fuss.”

These words with tears being spoken
So seethed the nominee:
“My crimes should count as joking,
Sweet privilege unbroken,
But since on lies I’m choking,
The victim here is me!”

Ah, his interlocutors
They scratched their heads, and sighed,
“It’s what boys do, young tutors,
In training to be looters,
And we are their recruiters:
The entry way is wide.”

Then all the good boys voted,
They cast and cast and cast,
As one by one they gloated
That no great harm was noted,
Hypocrisy being floated
Miasma like, and vast.

“It’s like a creeping karma,”
The nominee declared,
“I thought I was a charmer,
No less the harmed than harmer,
But must truth pierce my armor?
I haven’t been prepared.”

It is the Way of action:
What’s done, may well return,
Each character infraction
And wayward satisfaction
For which, in their attraction,
We burn because we burn.

The Prospect of Bereavement

9/1/2018

I give you this, my darling,
The world is unco cruel,
With snarling met with snarling,
Malevolence in duel.

When anger leads to rancor
And hurt returned for hurt,
Without hope for an anchor
Or option to avert.

Regardless, you, my brother,
And I, amidst this strife,
Toned down, to one another
According love and life.

It may well be you saved me,
Or may be I saved you,
But rage no more enslaved me
When love came shining through.

So now, to see you suffer,
Anon to see you die,
Becomes in prospect rougher
Than any past gone by.

I pray that I remember
What lonely hearts have learned,
The warm glow of an ember
In wake of great love burned.

Let Us Go Then, You and Me...

9/1/2018

As it turns out (referring to yesterday’s post) the website Alison Croggon co-founded and jointly edits with Robert Reid appears to leave theater reviews in front of the paywall and not behind. (That means I have a bit of a backlog to slog, though not too much, the site being extant none too long.)

Only Croggon’s reviews interest me much, not the other bloke’s, and part of the reason is the contextualization she (sometimes) brings to a merely local and temporal event. Take, for example, the review linked here. It is hard, off in Chicago, to muster up much interest in the play. But take a gander at paragraphs 6-9 (beginning “Who and what human beings are…" through to “by definition, not human”) and you'll see what I mean.

That said, other commitments probably preclude much archive prowling for the time being. Much as I enjoy the inestimable Croggon’s reviewery and critical peregrinations, such as leave their trace in non paywall-protected internet mews and alleyways, I have business elsewhere. I suspect the best—and more generalist—is not available (even as her own website restricts access). ’Tis pity but ’tis so.

Something Mercifully Not Behind a Paywall

8/31/2018

A new post today by Alison Croggon, who has dominated my feed these past days, or more properly, given me something to think (and yabber) about. A review of a play by Sarah Kane, which totally makes me wish I could see it.

I’ve never seen any Kane, and only heard little bits about her career. Before I quit writing them I seldom got to see any plays; now, in my quasi-dotage, I see them, but to no purpose.

<<Previous

The Devil’s Triangle: McConnell, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh

1. First Devil: Mitch McConnell

2. Second Devil: Neil Gorsuch

3. Third Devil: Brett Kavanaugh

A Villain’s Villanelle (Brett Kavanaugh’s)

The Country, When It Chose to Laud

Justice and Pity (or Possibly, Giustizia e Clemenza)

Strength in Sonnets: Two Poems by Edgar Bowers

In the Last Circle

The Mirror

The Lack of Ethics Gorsuch Showed

The Nominee’s Defense

The Prospect of Bereavement

Let Us Go Then, You and Me...

Something Mercifully Not Behind a Paywall

News?

Archives

Categories

​1. First Devil: Mitch McConnell

​2. Second Devil: Neil Gorsuch

​3. Third Devil: Brett Kavanaugh

In the Last Circle

The Mirror

News?

Archives

Categories

1. First Devil: Mitch McConnell

2. Second Devil: Neil Gorsuch

3. Third Devil: Brett Kavanaugh