{"id":2566,"date":"2016-10-31T12:58:22","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T17:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=2566"},"modified":"2016-10-31T12:58:22","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T17:58:22","slug":"poem-of-coarseness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/31\/poem-of-coarseness\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Of Coarseness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don’t put won over me<\/strong>
\nF every won<\/strong>
\nFlunk sexism<\/strong>
\nFlunk racism<\/strong>
\nFlunk classism<\/strong>
\nFlunk nationalism<\/strong>
\nAnd sow on<\/strong>
\nAnd sow on<\/strong>
\nIn effability<\/strong>
\nOf coarse<\/strong>
\nThey say<\/strong>
\nVulgarity vulgarity<\/strong>
\nEvery ware<\/strong>
\nI look<\/strong>
\nIn just US<\/strong>
\nThe capital of the whirled<\/strong>
\nSpinning lies<\/strong>
\nWile iniquity runs rampant<\/strong>
\nFore public office<\/strong>
\nAs up right<\/strong>
\nThe riotous<\/strong>
\nWill be herd<\/strong>
\nIf scuff law in order<\/strong>
\nTo re-buff amoral cents<\/strong>
\nAnd counting dullards<\/strong>
\nDrilled simply for being crude<\/strong>
\nAnd unrepentantly unrefined<\/strong>
\nTolled to keep off the crass<\/strong>
\nIn a tour de farce<\/strong>
\nAs if<\/strong>
\nIn decency<\/strong>
\nMerely unappetizing crudit\u00e9s<\/strong>
\nInterrupting<\/strong>
\nOur place<\/strong>
\nAt the table<\/strong>
\nOnly too be taken away<\/strong>
\nBe for serving<\/strong>
\nThe entree<\/strong>
\nTo the winners of our discontent<\/strong><\/p>\n

This poem plays on the nominal vulgarity of swear words versus the substantial vulgarities of endemic sexism, racism, classism, amoral capitalism, nationalism and the unlike. \u00a0\"Civilized<\/a>I am struck by the hugely disproportionate reactions by so-called civilized society to the nominal vulgarities of swear words and the substantial vulgarities of rampant iniquity and inequities. \u00a0This reminds me of one of my favorite passages from the Tao Te Ching (chapter 38):<\/p>\n

When Tao is lost<\/em>
\nThere is virtue<\/em>
\nWhen virtue is lost<\/em>
\nThere is morality<\/em>
\nWhen morality is lost<\/em>
\nThere is propriety<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"CIVIL<\/a>This passage captures the devolution of society and politics when propriety is the central reference point and standard for judgments, having devolved from simple morality and core virtues. Of course, even virtue and morality are devolutions of Tao, the ineffable and mysterious source from which life flows and finds its being. \u00a0Propriety is a pitiful veneer covering a morally bankrupt society, where unmoored virtue makes alienation the norm, and nothing is sacred. \u00a0What could be more coarse than a society where power, privilege and status are self-aggrandizing and injustice is but a chronic inconvenience?<\/p>\n

I am proud to have written a poem about vulgarity without directly using verbal vulgarities — though the implied vulgarities may make the poem PG-13. \u00a0Vulgarities may not be necessary, but when our concern is over words rather than from the underlying realities which deserve much more attention, we get sucked into dangerous distraction. \u00a0My increasingly surreal experience of the gap between popular awareness and underlying injustices seems like a good basis for the full employment by this poet of awe words, vulgar or not. \u00a0May we see beyond the superficial proprieties of language to see clearly the grinding injustices which bespeak vulgarities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t put won over me F every won Flunk sexism Flunk racism Flunk classism Flunk nationalism And sow on And sow on In effability Of coarse They say Vulgarity vulgarity Every ware I look In just US The capital of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[775,483,294,87,523,105,582,428,172,721,157,359,81,72,658,291,94,215,110,513,490,207,128,588,290,406,575,67,320,429],"class_list":["post-2566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-alienation","tag-awareness","tag-awe","tag-capitalism","tag-classism","tag-crude","tag-employment","tag-experience","tag-farce","tag-injustice","tag-law","tag-life","tag-morality","tag-nationalism","tag-poems","tag-poet","tag-poetry","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-privilege","tag-propriety","tag-racism","tag-sacred","tag-sexism","tag-society","tag-status","tag-superficial","tag-surreal","tag-tao","tag-virtue"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Of Coarseness | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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