thoughts about Robert Pinsky’s PoemJazz Misrule Music: https://youtu.be/bZx-uX2yjew?si=TOl00wqivNADv0sF

I was driving

driving down the road

listening

listening for the first time

to Robert Pinsky

whom I’d never before heard

read his poetry

He spoke it

with musicians playing jazz

jazz, like the stereotype

of the beat poets

where are the bongos

ha ha

ha ha

as if his words

could not stand alone

or perhaps he hid behind

yet I continued to listen

as he read charismatic indecency

as the jazz played on

ha ha

ha ha

comparing Donald Trump to Harpo Marx

squeezing the horn, chasing the women

cutting the ties off of the stuffed shirts

like Trump is the anarchy Harpo embodied

cutting the ties of the rich? no

the childish delight in irresponsibility

yes

ha ha

ha ha

charismatic indecency

We’ve always needed the Harpos, the clowns

to cut the ties of puritans and powerful

and children play chasing games as do adults to squeals and giggles

so do the clowns

ha ha

ha ha

is Harpo why women choose the bear

chasing each other can be a game but

                  “what’s a matter girlie, can’t you take a joke”

has been used and used and used

to justify cruelty

ha ha

ha ha

I was driving

and listening

rethinking

I don’t need the bongos nor the jazz

why is he hiding or is he elevating

rethinking opinions

is growth

this is openness

and I am saddened that I’d not noticed

that in taking too much delight in attacking puritanism

and not hearing the off-stage crying

ha ha

ha ha

Perhaps, perhaps

I should listen

read

Robert Pinsky

and see if his words need the jazz

is he hiding in the jazz, trying to be cool

can his words impact

without the music

ha ha

ha ha

is charismatic indecency okay when it goes after power

instead of emanating from it

and where is the border that defines when it is okay to clown

is the joker ever worth paying attention to

ha ha

ha ha

Is Trump

the rampant clown, the court jester

cutting the ties of the bureaucrats

attacking institutionalized puritanism

while the rest of us just see

his slap to the face of a child who dared to say no

and of course she asked for it in the locker room

can’t you take a joke

ha ha

ha ha

I was listening

finding that despite

because

regardless

of the jazz

Robert Pinsky is worth reading

his poem is worth listing to