A Poem for Donald Trump on Inauguration Day

[@taylormali]

Your need for help with this poem, Anna, stems from the conflicting interests I had while writing it. Although the title and the date would have you believe that this is a dis of Donald Trump, it's really more of a dis of Jack Gilbert, the author of the poem "A Brief for the Defense," from which I stole 90% of the lines of this poem (but 0% of the tone). I love Jack Gilbert, but his poem seems as though it could only have been written by a white man with considerable comfort and privilege. This pome six to make more glaring the blind spots of entitlement that many middle-aged white men feel. The fact that I finished it on inauguration day seemed significant to me so I dedicated it to Donald Trump, which may have been unnecessarily obfuscatory.

[@Lowtronik]

Hello Taylor (non english speaking person here) To be honest , the first time I heard this poem from you I conceived it like a dis to people who lose hope and surrender. It sounded as if the message of the poem was "we - the privileged propably - we must not fall in despare that the morall compass of our society is out of sync, we must continue to hope and work for the better". Hmmm, words huh?

[@MetteC5]

Taylor Mali The the impotence of proofreading (please read your comet against an you'll sea what I meaning ;)) Kind wink from a loyal follower and admirer in Europe. And please know that I duly receive and resonate to your message beyond form. The world is a better place thanks to people like you. Please continue your deeply important work. Very warm regards.

[@BrendtWaters]

If I ever write an autobiography, I'm going to title it, "Unnecessarily Obfuscatory."

[@williamcervetti1455]

WOW Taylor I just rediscovered you after first hearing (quite a few years ago)the great bit about uncertainty in speech and the general lack of conviction in most people and how it's of a piece with their fearful and recessive groupthink , can't remember the title of the youtube vid, but you were wearing a Scrabble t-shirt and were introduced by Mos Def (hey, where has he been?) Anyway, reading the comments like the above, I am surprised to see that YOU are the only person besides myself that knows the work of Jack Gilbert---yes, he has misses as often as hits, but his poem about revisiting his dead wife through the being of a dalmatian he sees and sits with on his daily walks---believe it was called ALONE. But the great poem in the collection I have (The Great Fires) is called Carry Torches at Noon. So glad your name crossed my mind tonight and I was able to reacquaint myself with your poetry and performances. Sublime.

[@metaphordice1240]

@@williamcervetti1455 Wonderful to have you back, even if it was this confusing poem that brought you here. Just reread "Alone" by Jack Gilbert (on your recommendation) and loved it again. I wrote a poem about my parents coming back to life as bats (because we killed so many on the sleeping porch when we we kids). And Tony Hoagland has a poem that begins "When my father dies and comes back as a dog, I already know what his favorite sound will be." Have a wonderful day!

[@kurtcornell8885]

Brilliant! The fact that you rendered it in an unnecessarily obfuscatory manner makes it even more apropos to such a time as this...probably.

[@harford15]

Thank you, Mr. Mali. You continue to teach us.

[@auburnjewels2]

Just remember...the heart brings you back.😎

[@carolkhan8081]

Heart felt your pain, you lift us up even in your sorrow. Thank you dear.

[@podcastbard]

What a difference 5 years make in the life of the politician.

[@benjamingeiger]

An alternate title for Gilbert's poem could be "The Ones Who Stay In Omelas".

[@veronicahall9357]

was anyone else scrutinizing the bookshelf behind him...? Thank you for this, Mr. Mali

[@Simmering_Beagle]

I love the admission of doubt with the "Probablys"

[@pinkpantheonqueerhistory5699]

Hearing this one week before Pride with an active genocide going on in the country right next to me. Wow. But its true. We have almost a duty to live a joyful, prideful life. To be light other people can see.

[@gregscodingtutorials2129]

Taylor I don't think that westerners are actively denying that they are nominally better off with the things (cars, houses, mobiles phones, long life spans, good health....) they have in their lives at this point in history. I think they are increasing lamenting the loss of meaning in their lives through worth while employment. Being under constant stress of having to pay the mount of debt piling up on them. And in constant fear of losing their menial poorly paying job(s). In Australia's case ending up on Centrelink Newstart because one might refuse to participate in jobs that rip their fellow Australians off. And then being treated as a leper by other Australian often engaged in economically unproductive work that Australian society could do with out e.g. telemarketing call centers! All these stressors suck all the joy out of life and make people depressed and or angry (including me). All those good things mean....well....jack shit.....if you don't have worth, a direction and connection in your life. So I am not all that certain it is fair to label white skin westerners as ungrateful. And I will once again re-iterate the view I have arrived at...... If depression, gun massacres (in the US), climate change, disengagement of students at school, terrorism, poverty......... are all leaves and branches on a tree, then the western banking system is the root system from which all these problems sprout. Convincing white skinned westerners that they have a moral obligation to be grateful for what they have, while noble in some ways, is also just another band-aid solution. Akin to pruning a few leaves or small branches off the tree. If you want to really kill the 'problem tree' then we all need to target the root system - the western banking system and its debt money.

[@gregscodingtutorials2129]

Everyone! Schools, teachers, manufacturing companies, citizens, university students, nursing homes, hospitals.....are all simultaneously in debt to banks. All desperately trying to earn enough money to keep up with their debt repayments. Is there any wonder why the reason for not implementing (or adequately implementing) programs to combat all our mounting global problems inevitably comes back to the same excuse - "we don't have enough money to do that". Why? Because increasing amounts of money are being funneled back into the banks as debt repayment. Being grateful and happy with what one has certainly makes a difference on an individual basis for a time. But in the face of a tsunami of global and local problems, I can't see how this solution can be sustainable. I am sure there are plenty of Americans currently living on the streets in cardboard boxes or in tent cities on abandoned land or in the SUVs. May be some of them make the best of what they have. But if they are starving or ill then being grateful for what they have won't save them from a premature death. I am trying to be VERY CAREFUL about proof reading all of this Taylor, by the way ;-) You have turned me into a fan. My son and daughter too. With 'The the impotence of proofReading' ROFL And I HATED english when I was at high school - I could not wait to get shot of it. Not because of the teachers but because it simply held no interest for me. The Great Gatsby etc and Great Expectations etc just did not resonate for me. I was intent on reading every Dr Who book I could lay my hands on, at the time.

[@unicornsage]

Your amazing , I'm a young poet . May you please come to my school . It's the queens high school of teaching in queens New York?

[@sassafrassiest]

I'm so glad there are young poets interested in hearing talented people perform their work. If you can't get Taylor Mali to come to your school, try checking out the Bowery Poetry Club. It's a somewhat long bus and subway ride from your school (probably more than an hour), but they do shows and writing workshops.

[@walkingmap]

Thank you Taylor for bringing me here

[@sujaysukumar123]

Namaste Mr.Mali

[@dibade1961]

This is really good. Thank you.

[@panchanansahoo6559]

Good

[@EdgarLopez-ep5zf]

Can you recite your poem The Basic Paradox I have to recite it in class and I would like to see what tone you use

[@stevenhowell8802]

Listening quietly in silence ignoring grading and lesson planning for the sake of keeping my mentor sacred Knight to A3, your move you slip into that category that makes all teachers obfuscatory, to borrow a word or two from the man who kept me going during the worst periods of my life Bishop to H3 Probably, maybe, could be, Mleh the world is full of possibilities Rook to H8, check I watched as a man mocked the disabled, ignored years of oppression and violence belittled everything the women's movement stood for and was praised for it Bishop to G5 This is a limb I walk on unafraid to fall off like Zackeius, trying to get a better view of the crowd Knight to B5 I say these things, though not eloquently enough as the case always is because someone once taught me about conviction. checkmate

[@annaf.w.5154]

Can someone please help me to comprehend this better...? I know there's a meaning behind the meaning of the words. I'm trying to wrap my head around the sub context of the poem and I feel like I'm just missing it. I've been away from my books too long; my mind isn't what it used to be... :(

[@enjalu]

Anna Ferguson White privilige. Especially that of the White American Man.

[@atomatopia1]

I’m sorry I’m so late, but if it’s anything to you now, I believe this poem as the original writer wrote, is about how it is important that the privileged enjoy a privileged life so as to not ‘lessen’ the plight of the unprivileged. Mali’s alterations to the original poem (the “probably”’s and “so at least I hear”’s) exposes how unattached the privileged are to the suffering of others and how this ideology is merely an excuse for the privileged to not help those in need and to even feel good about the suffering of others.

[@freefallpilot]

Quite fitting. Quite accurate.

[@samurai2157]

Mr. Mali can I go to the bathroom?

[@TristLo]

No, because you don't really need to go.

[@happyfakeboulder644]

"No" "Why won't I let you go to the bathroom? Because you're bored and you don't really have to go to the bathroom, do you?"

[@mmyxtres16]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@SunshineWanderlust]

❤❤❤

[@nonyabusinesss3025]

Hhhhwhit this sir probably has heard once or twice. Someone like me, wonders IF even someone like Donald Trump considers with accuracy poems like these, especially if it has the word "*namaste*" in it, probably not. The "name" only gets capitals because in proper English, that is what one is supposed to do with pronouns. (I still shreak inside), lol.

[@nattodatto]

Sigh

[@jeffbaer5851]

'Preaching to the converted,' I think, is the term? (I've heard it as "the choir," but somehow that metaphor doesn't really ring true to me.) The people who NEED to hear and understand this poem will turn up their snouts at it, and continue digging for truffles. A brilliant gut-punch to privilege, disguised with soft-spoken irony. Thank you. If only more people had read, and thought...