Circumstance of France

Circumstance of France
Circumflex

Global indifference
Uncaring bastards
For words and letters
Grammar and poetic letters
Stealing our roots, our tools
Our hats
Our very being
Taking us for fools
We shall overcome this injustice
As Rafael Padilla rose above his chains
So shall we restore our dignity


I fear if we left the kitchen
You'd steal our onions too
Have you no soul?
Do you know how cold the winter with no hat?


You say you are the Académie française
Yet you protect not the black letters on a page
Oh Chocolat! Oh Shame!
You care not for the revolution long ago
Nor do you care for the heart of Moliere
I of all
I am shocked
To be calling the language police
What comfort can you give a word with no hat to wear?
Have you no compassion, do you not care?

All my life I have dreaded that hat
Now that I have conquered my fear
You wish to behead the very essence of French
Have you no shame?

You wish to circumcise the grammar
Shorten the learning, make bad spelling no ones blame
I stand tall, atop the Eiffel tower
I shall protest you, flexing my circumference
Making you see the errors of your intolerance
To murder such a small hat
Of history
You only create misery
As I open yet another Bordeaux
The Circus died yet there is one clown left


Notes: This poem is about the removal of the ^ from certain letters in the French language, this was decided in 1990 but only has become “news” now. However like all great ideas I did intertwine others, if you care to guess, and the point of the poem is not to make a point but rather to stir a social discussion on the issues of today.

educationfrenchhumorlanguagephilosophyverse

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Timothy Hicks

February 7, 2016 at 9:01 PM

Ahhhh I've never heard of Rafael Padilla. What a cool story :) Funny ... just recently I watched the movie The Walk. It's about that French tightrope walker, who walked a tight-rope between the Twin Towers, in the 70s, Philippe Petit. It was quite the riveting story, and a whole lot of illegal preparation to perform a stunt that you have a high chance of dying in! I liked it though.

Timothy Hicks

February 7, 2016 at 8:24 PM

Also I was a bit surprised by what this poem was about. When I read the title I immediately thought of all the tragedies in the news lately ... Charlie Hebdo, and the mass shootings etc., ... but it turned out to be much more lighthearted!

Arthur Vaso

February 7, 2016 at 8:54 PM

Sometimes is nice to look at lighthearted issues and have a laugh at life! Cheers!

Timothy Hicks

February 7, 2016 at 8:22 PM

I appreciate the explanation at the end (was wondering about "that hat" ... lol). I always thought it strange how the French haven't invented a word for 70! But in a way it's somewhat endearing, because it's that particular culture unique. I feel a strange sort of nostalgia for baseball and how it used to be one of America's greatest past-time (now it's replaced by Football). I'm not even into that sports, for some reason baseball has a strange allure too it. Interesting poem.

Arthur Vaso

February 7, 2016 at 8:53 PM

Thank you, that was the intention, when you change say grammar or language, is like changing part of your childhood, so even is not a big deal there is emotion attached to it. However I tossed in a side story of sorts about Rafael Padilla, a black Cuban slave, that rose to fame in France as a clown!