Poetry in Motion

Suzanne Fields' article this week extols the virtues of moving poetry to the public square. She begins with the filibuster question.

Congress is spending a lot of hot air on the question: to filibuster or not to filibuster. The Bard, as always, said it best:

Whether 'tis nobler in the minds men to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take aims against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them?

Whatever our worthies decide to do about the filibuster, we can count on a lot of bluster. Hamlet summed up pretty well what's rotten in the state of Congress. Would that the few senators who set their tongues to blocking judicial nominees were eloquent in understanding the issue. We no longer live in an age when poetry is handmaiden to political rhetoric. Our politicians, like most everybody else, are sparing in poetic utterance, which is too bad because at its best poetry clarifies thought.

Well, I'm not sure if what we need is poetic politicians or more Shakespeare spouting statesmen. I mean if Shakespeare really did say it best, why do we need today's pols to pontificate in a poetical patois? Could they not drop in a soliloquy or two and call it a day?

If you are in the mood for some poetry, by the way, check out the Practical Press.