Frederick Seidel: So What

I am reading poetry again to get away from politics. I picked up Frederick Seidel’s So What because the typesetting was beautiful, and yet Mr. Seidel brought me back into politics right off his opening poem:

There’s nothing on earth as beautiful as a Purdey
Over-and-Under, or as urbane, or as insane,
Except Volodymyr Zelensky,
The incredible president of Ukraine.

Then again, I loved Mr. Seidel’s takedown of the Orange Toad:

I’d love to hear you in your roaring mode
Denouncing vividly and lividly the Orange Toad—
Our president (the Donald)—

And his incredible regime of fraud.

Here’s a funny one:

Who did more for Black people than anyone since Lincoln,
Isn’t Trump
But liked to have people around him when he took a dump.

And one more:

The prep for a colonoscopy,
The emptying out that leaves the colon clean and free,
Is what the nation needs so it can clearly see
The malignant Trump presidency.
How many years before the Trump malignancy
Untreated means the United States will die?
What’s the life expectancy, how long can we live with this lout?
Well, as Philip Larkin said, in another connection, we shall find out.

I also find his poetry simile hilarious:

Diarrhea and constipation-precious pair of poets—
Sing their stanzas tunelessly.

Mr. Seidel also writes about aging:

Every morning when I shave
Is one day closer to the grave.

And another one:

I’m not as old as I used to be.
I’m getting young.
I find myself making child nonsense sounds
Doing my exercises
When no one’s around.
I find myself shouting at the floor.
I explode with rage and age.

I had to look him up and Mr. Seidel is 89 years young. His mind is sharp and his poems are sharper. I wish him well so he can write more poems. We need more people like him in this time.