Best Richard Nixon Poems
Choosing a favorite President is quite an arduous task
Given that most politicians usually wear a spurious mask,
but as a student of History, there was one that I admired;
" the scrappy kid from Kansas."* So many he has inspired.
In his biography there's a plethora of interesting information.
'Ike" was a 5 star general, besides leading this great nation.
A war hero, selected to be America's Commander and Chief.
A man of great integrity, who did not cause his country grief.
In his honor, a Washington Memorial was dedicated.
His bravery in war, and acts as President are celebrated.
After the war, he commanded European NATO forces
and overthrew communism from it's evil courses.
Voted U. S. President in 1952, with the slogan, "I Like Ike,"
Richard Nixon was his running mate; they were nothing alike.
In two terms served, he created a grand legacy for his name.
A President for the people, to him the office was not a game.
There are many valuable quotes that Eisenhower left behind
and I'll end with a few that I feel worthy for us to keep in mind;
none more appropriate than this one, I was happy to find...
"Some day there is going to be a man sitting in my present chair who has not been raised in the military services and who will have little understanding of where slashes in their estimates can be made with little or no damage. If that should happen while we still have the state of tension that now exists in the world, I shudder to think of what could happen in this country."
"The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters."
"Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well."
"If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power."
February 11, 2021
Your Favorite President Contest
Sponsored by: L Milton Hankins
*Inscribed on the Eisenhower Memorial
Who
Ever
knew,
according
to Wikipedia’s,
chronological list
of inauguration portraits,
that Richard Milhous Nixon
was the last U. S. president not to
show his teeth. He could have
been a television crime scene detective,
anchorman, or even the famous Cyrano de
Bergerac before Steve Martin in Roxanne. And
think about the high-double-hand-double-V-
salute! President Dwight David
“Ike” Eisenhower may have once offered the
salute. Similarly, half-Vulcan and half-human,
Mr. Spock made a single-hand-double-V-salute,
and Winston Churchill made the single-hand-
single-V-salute. As well as Steve McQueen, a
few protesters and several rock stars. Even
before that, a low relief, discovered by
archeologists in Magnesia ad Meandrum,
Greece dating back almost three-thousand years,
displays a person offering
a single-hand
-single-V-salute.
But never in history has
anyone been more
recorded offering
a high-double-hand-
double-V-salute.
If President Barack
Hussein Obama
gave a high-double
-hand- double-V-salute, we
would call him a dictator. And although Mr.
Obama was the first president to offer a single-
hand-salute with a cup of coffee, all the firsts
and first lasts, lead me to believe that an
extraordinary man became the thirty-seventh
President of the United States of America.
But there’s still something else
about Richard Nixon.
Maybe he just looks too happy.
Richard M. Nixon
Needed some fixin'.
His presidency failed,
When Watergate was unveiled.
DON’T GET ME STARTED
1. About taxes, we have to pay them so why bother
Wasting breath complaining? And they’re spent on
Useful stuff like nuclear weapons and world-tours for
The Prime Minister and keeping teenage shoplifting kids
In jail (where they belong) and allowing major embezzlers
Or inside-traders to be under light-supervision on open prison-farms.
2. About Richard Nixon, a president who got caught
Doing what practically every president does,
And did trivial things like achieving rapprochement with China,
Ending the war in Vietnam, and signing nuke treaties
With the USSR. What a waste of time.
3. About bees, because why should I put up with stings and all their buzzing
Just for honey, when I don’t even like honey or beeswax?
And don’t tell me about the hexagonal architecture of honeycombs.
Buckminster Fuller did it better without stinging or buzzing anyone.
4. About sushi, which is a bit too fishy for me. I hate fish,
With those big staring eyes in the shop, or floating pathetically
Around In the shrimp-pan gazing accusingly at me.
5. About Australians, wanting applause for kangaroos, wallabies or Melbourne.
How about a round of applause for Canada for having beavers, or the RCMP?
6. About rap “music” which really should be called crap music
7. About dogs
..................................................
( Don't get excited, politically, sexually or architecturally. No nationalistic or animal rights complaints, please. It's only a funny poem.)
I used to dream of Frankenstein
When certain of some future glitch,
Now Donald Trump is Valentine
Of House’s Paul and Senate’s Mitch.
Yes, Trump is monster in this farce
Paul crazy-science, Mitch Igor,
The humor good though logic’s sparse,
Bombastic lies that fools adore.
Trump charges others with his crimes,
First charge makes echo sound remiss,
You sigh and blame it on the “Times”
Until he fondles what’s not “hiss.”
Yelled “Crooked Hill” till he was hoarse,
But still can’t make the charges stick
Has yet to share all incomes source,
He promised both, is Trump just “Dick?”(1)
Foundation that the Clintons formed,
With no malfeasance, quid pro quo,
The Trump foundation we’re informed
Thinks “Charity” just word you know.
Trump promised he’d pay for campaign,
So he’d be free of other’s sin...
Loaned funds instead, slight chance of pain
“Repaid” himself as “gifts” came in.
Can no one beat them at their game?
Or slow them as they stack the deck,
By cheating on Obama’s claim,
They plot the constitution’s wreck.
Where’s leadership to sooth and heal
Divided Nation held in thrall?
New leaders seek just to repeal,
The egotist, Neanderthal.
Now nepotism goes unchecked,
Can rich really restrain the rich?
Poor Tsar become our architect.
Whose head shares hole with ostrich.
You voted for him, now pay price,
Can coup be all that far away?
Your children’s lives the sacrifice,
Until then have a happy day!
Brian Johnston
January 10, 2017
A Poet’s Note:
(1) Another criminal politician like Richard Nixon?
December 5, 1941 - the day I was born
December 7, 1941 - Pearl Harbor attacked
June 2, 1953 - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
November 22, 1963 - Assassination of John F. Kennedy
July 20, 1969 - Armstrong and Aldrin set foot on the moon
August 9, 1974 - Richard Nixon resigned the presidency
November 9, 1989 - Berlin Wall came down
December 25, 1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union
September 11, 2001 - Attack on the World Trade Center
January 6, 2021 - Insurrectionist attack on U. S. Capitol
Written September 11, 2021
Richard Nixon could not tell the truth
George Washington could not tell a lie
Donald Trump can not tell the difference
He just wants to torture a spy!
THINGS THAT HATE ME
Spaghetti, for I don’t allow it to outrun my utensil
I chop it all to inch-long pieces then use my fork as a shovel.
Expensive French wine, for I won’t ever pretend
It’s much more delicious than Californian, “Oh it’s the end!”
Italian shoes: they grumble at each other and say
He never boasts our nationality, only speaks of comfort each day.
Versace men’s clothes, for I know they are no different to other clothes,
Only pricier and rather dull and a foreign name that one loathes.
Gateshead, because I think it was a horrible place to be born and raised
And it thinks it’s a cool up-to-date nice place now, but it should still be rased.
England, for I don’t miss it at all , and will never seek
The company of expats who say they are indeed such a clique.
Cell phones, for I won’t carry them absolutely everywhere
And won’t answer at each beep as if life depended on its blare.
Cars, which try to assert their importance as boys’ toys -
My interest is in lovely things which make no smelly noise.
Colds and flu, for I don’t allow them to spoil my whole day.
Just take regular remedy stuff and go on normally.
Ultra-slim fashion models scowling on catwalks because I say
They are only skinny girls and rather plain-looking, rather grey.
Australia, because I won’t say it’s a wonderful place,
Only a desert and a few big towns pretending to be like the USA’s.
Italian language, because it is “the most beautiful and spoken with ease”
And this is obviously not so to the Welsh or Chinese.
Football games, for they insist on pretending to be crucial to life
And much more important than kids or wife.
Squeaky hinges, wobbly tables, leaky taps and broken things myriad -
Because I don’t allow them to exist for an interminable period.
By the way, things that don’t hate me include the US Navy,
Folk music, cats, Richard Nixon, and kasha with gravy,
……..For obvious reasons.
Richard Nixon was the president’s name
It was Watergate that brought him shame
They wanted to impeach him, the F.B.I.
But he resigned before they could try.
Written 21st of March 2019
Celebrity or famous person clerihew contest.
Sponsored by Tania Kitchin.
Richard Nixon was quite slick
Most just called him tricky dick
But it was in Watergate
that he did participate
Ford pardoned him very quick
Richard Nixon
Was full of tricks then
Disappeared in
Watergate's quicksand
Brave President Gerald Ford
pardoned Richard Nixon
for all his tricks, and
was impaled on the electorate's sword
_________________
By this trick have I won, year after year,
A hundred marks since I was pardoner.
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
_____________________
Climbing down from high moral ground,
From cool claim all his term around,
Biden pardons his son
From all the evil done,
Yet, scarce is he alone
To lick licentious bone,
Which way’s world’s conscience keeper bound?
Is pardon altruistic grace?
It veils an arbitrary face.
More than human glory,
It bears poor history,
And disburses more dirt
Than mends a moral hurt,
Nor is a case of forgiveness.
___________________
Happenings |04.12.2024|satire, clemency/compassion
Poet’s note: The intent of the founding fathers of the country was not to pardon family members or close supporters, or even self, as Trump might do in future. Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother on the day he left office. Jimmy Carter granted amnesty to draft-dodgers on the first day in office. Gerald Ford pardoned his former boss Richard Nixon for official misconduct. Trump in his first term pardoned his son-in-law’s father, shortly after losing his bid for re-election. But the list is long. Says a commentator, this pardon is not for his son alone. The Big Guy is protecting himself from Kash Patel, newly selected FBI Chief under Trump.
Americans were shocked and stunned
‘Reason’ abandoned, injustice had won
On Sept. 8, 1974, when President Ford exited the stage
The Republican right was left in fistic rage
While the Democrat left was aghast, How could Ford do this
The scales of justice, now so sorely amiss
To pardon a President, guilty in every possible way
of undermining the law and his opponent just didn’t play
It cost Ford the next election, ‘cos Richard Nixon he’d pardoned
Voters’ adverse reaction over two years so hardened
They elected an unknown, a neophyte named Carter
next to whom the Ayatollah Khomeini looked smarter
Yet the country moved on, hindsight thanked Ford
~ That Biden pardon Trump ~ start petitioning the Lord
LETTERS FROM UNITED STATES OF AMERICA -MIA
U for Universal, representing Hollywood
N for Richard Nixon, whose morals fell short of good.
I reminds us of Iraq; we’re there for their protection.
T is for the Twin Towers – though of course there’s no connection.
E for entertainment, in America it’s grand.
D illustrates it perfectly; just visit Disneyland.
S is for the Super Bowl, a sort of U.S. F.A Cup.
T is for Thanksgiving where families meet up.
A is the American Dream, a concept they all love.
T is for the turkey they eat two lines above.
E just stands for everything you either love or hate.
S is for the sea between, which some believe is great.
O has to be Obama, the one who broke the mould.
F is for the failure we hope we don’t behold.
A is for “The Apple”, or New York on the map.
M is for Macdonalds, who sell a load of ....
E remembers Elvis; at last they had a king.
R is for the rock and roll which Elvis made his thing.
I is for the Indians the cowboys loved to fight.
C, the Constitution which gives them equal rights.
A brings us back to “The Apple” – so good they named it twice.
28th August 2021
Message in and Acrostic contest 2
Sponsor - Kim Rodrigues