Best Twentieth Poems
Continuation of Brodsky’s History of the Twentieth Century
1918. A flu pandemic in Spain takes hold,
From Kansas over the seas in America bold,
Women’s suffrage win the vote,
Their opinion is not remote,
Russia switches from the Julian calendar,
To the Gregorian, the west’s larder,
Russia agrees the world war to leave,
To forsake the German swastika sleeve,
UK navy air flying squad merges with RAF,
To make one dynamic force, to the Nazi’s deaf,
The Finnish civil war ends which did distract,
Germany away from their vile, aggressive act,
Nazareth and Forest of Argonne battles won,
Allied forces break the Hindenburg line rung,
The First World War ends with freedom standing,
Democracies will liberate and love undemanding,
Austria, Czech, Hungary become Republics grand,
A peace conference is held in Paris’s free land.
The man of the year is William C “Billy” Durant,
The founding owner and President of General Motors,
He engineers automobiles with speed, at some current,
Like sliced bread off a line to be given coasters.
(Billy Durant)
After Billy bought Chevrolet motors,
Of Delaware, to take the market’s rotors,
He made its head into a new entity,
In General Motors company identity,
But this man, called Pierre S DuPont,
Stole his presidency with great foe,
So this chief man Billy bought bowling alleys,
But died unknown to his lucrative days:
But Durant asserted in money terms our friend,
Technology, after which the war did quickly end.
Reference: History of the Twentieth Century by Joseph Brodsky
Mr Wiz, Munchkin Land
Be so kind to lend a hand...
Cartwheeling cottage? how daft is that
Landed quite safely, all level and flat
Some midget fellow said, who else heard that
I think ‘Wicked Westie’ might just have gone splat
Tin men and lions and blokes full of straw
Red shoes and rainbows and bricks on the floor
Witches determined to lay down the law
Little dog yapping and blue birds galore
Lion so scared he’s effectively tame
Geezer wants ticker inside his tin frame
The chap with a head full of straw wants a brain
Dorothy wants to go home... shame
Old men and wizards, one and the same
Thinks Dottie’s plight is a bit of a game
hidden away in a small secret room
Tells her, ‘Go forth and fetch me a broom’
But Dot knows a half decent witch from up north
This tale’s full of witches and she’s third or fourth
With witches from east and west done up like kippers
The North witch gives Dottie the west witch’s slippers
Dimwit companions, each a good fellow
Prancing about on a road painted yellow
Keep Dottie safe from that nasty grim reaper
Present to the wizard the requisite sweeper
And lo, he's impressed and he loudly applauds her
But this dodgy wizard’s a bit of a fraudster
Spouts loads of stuff about going home soon
But then he clears off in his hot air balloon
The lion got brave and the scarecrow got clever
The tin man’s new heart might well beat forever
Ain’t no pleasing Dottie, she can’t go home, never
Them slippers, said Northy, click em together
So she clicked them together, those slippers in red
There’s no place like home she repeatedly said
Sounds like she might have been right off her head
But then she wakes up and shes home in her bed
And so, Mr Wiz, this may be remiss
But what do you think...
Could you film this?
16 November 2018
Twentieth Century
Mankind started this century with so much enthusiasm.
What has happened to it all now?
Has something gone wrong with mankind?
Is he alarmed to live his life to the fullest?
Why does he have the means to wipe himself out
with bombs, viruses and weird science?
All these questions can be answered
if we look into ourselves. Yes, we all want
to live and prosper. Human life is a special thing
and it will survive for many a year yet.
It can be seen all around us
Hard times and its sounds
Companies closing down
Gas and fuel go up and staying unsettled
Then they fall to their lowest in years
Melancholy awareness and tears
War in other lands
Religion and stained hands
Media melodrama
Families going homeless
Foreclosure how sad
To loss the only home you ever had
Strange new biohazards in your neighborhood
A new beetle brought to North America eating at our woods
Turmoil worry
Fast pace lifestyles hurry up and hurry
Cut backs in city police and fireman
Laying the grounds for higher crime
Dirty politicians
Smeared on national TV
Kids on cell phones and I-pods
Addicted to electronics’ now they’re new God’s
Animals abandoned
One can easily become despondent
Are we near twentieth century abolishment?
I've never been to Heaven
nor have I been to Hell
But living through the 20th century
I think I know it well
requiem for the immaterial man
his pauper pockets clean but empty
he stitches his threadbare life with a careful hand
this is the latter half of the twentieth century man
and his well spoken mind sees the writing on the wall
knows the disease of market minded wall street dreamers
and the throw away class of the poor stranded in jails
he watches with dismay the evening news
the tale told of hard times to come
he embraces his family unit with
courage and trepidation
this wife and child are his universe
love for them wells up from the center of his soul
requiem for the immaterial man
he is spread thin and feeling the pressure
but its for his loved ones so he will hang on
but its for the long haul so he will make due
will you please spare him some thought
when you go to the hallowed halls
when the republic calls you to cast your vote
for the fool who will sit in the oval office
for the king billionaire who holds our fate in his lunatic hands
the latter half of the twentieth century man
carrying his lunch in a pale
walks slowly home from his busy workaholic day
the burden on his shoulders plain
but he is a strong man after all
a better man
spare him a thought
for his loved ones
The twentieth century
fades into memory
The wars, the holocausts, the roaring twenties,
the Depression, and the 60's are becoming
the stuff of legend
The years continue to roll on
Bolshevism in retreat now
Will there be a better day soon?
Make up your mind powers that be!
the masses are hoping
for sweet relief
The story of the 1900's is done
Perhaps there are brighter days ahead
We must learn to live on hope!
J-oy shall be caused by castle
O-n twentieth September;
M-illion mirth is carried,
A-s many friends remember.
D-elight shall be established,
E-ndless ecstasy as well;
L-aughter can also be found in the towers of the castle.
C-astle can create the thrill
A-cross the queen's archaic halls;
S-atisfaction is brought
T-o the thick and high walls.
I-n the medieval building
L-et the celebrant enter;
L-et the castle create the joy
O-n twentieth September.
K-ind of rhyme returns
E-very twentieth September;
N-ew form of greeting you is now here to remember.
M-y kind of rhyme returns
A-gain on twentieth September;
R-ight here in my mouth
I-s the title that I utter.
O-ne kind of rhyme returns on twentieth September;
N-ice lines are composed as the night is naturally over;
R-egarded as a verse,
A-n acrostic type to a writer;
M-y kind of rhyme returns
O-n twentieth
S-eptember.