Poem from Howard Debs

Inconvenient Truths

          Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth

          because they don’t want their illusions destroyed

          — Friedrich Nietzsche

I’m sitting in front of the TV just staring at what’s

on the screen like there’s no tomorrow, in fact

what day is it? I never watch TV this early

but then I never stay up til after 2am either

unless I think my life depends on it which I kinda did

waiting for results of the race between a woman and

a man in this case not Billie Jean King and

Bobby whoever duking it out across the net,

to prove a female can play the game as well

but now after the fact, the pundits crowd around

to pontificate and debate the matter at hand

namely, why? Racism, sexism, or was it

about the money, follow the money. It’s

the economy, stupid. So squinting through

bloodshot eyes and listening with my earbuds

in to not disturb my wife who’s not yet up,

I’m watching The View, I don’t think I ever

have before. It’s Whoopi Goldberg, who I

used to think was funny and a coterie of other

female celebs as they question each other

on the question of the day, why she lost?

Alyssa Farah Griffin insisted it’s not about

abortion, it’s the cost of living. Co-host

Sunny Hostin interrupted to say it’s misogyny.

Griffin—it’s the border—Goldberg, groceries

and stuff is high because the folks in control

want more money for themselves—“A completely

intelligent, qualified woman lost to a guy who was

simulating sex with a microphone,” Joy Behar said.

That’s when I turned it off and went to bed.

Afterword: I can’t possibly begin to explain the whys and wherefores in this little square of space. I tried, here: The Present Situation—Fractured Reality: Reflections and a Poetic Response by Howard Debs – VISIBLE Magazine

News source: ‘The View’ Hosts Argue About Trump’s Win: ‘Democrats Missed the Moment’  https://bit.ly/3YJZ2LE

One thought on “Poem from Howard Debs

  1. I’ve never watched The View, but by what you write, the hosts seem to be all over the place with regard to “why she lost.” I agree with the hosts who said misogyny and racism were to blame. Both sentiments are extremely ingrained in the American consciousness and in the culture. I must say that I never believed that a man whom a judge had declared was guilty of forcible rape, would be victorious over a woman of color who is in fact a hundred times brighter than he is. We owe it, I guess, to what the shrinks call a cult of personality. God help us.

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