An Ode to Certain Authoritarians

With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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How I Do Loathe Thee (Sonnet 1)

How I do loathe thee. Let me spout the ways.
I loathe thee for the depths to which your blight-ed
Soul can sink, when acting out your spite,
The ends and means enshrining your disgrace.
I loathe thee for the level of your base
Consuming greed, your fondness for Epstein,
The list you're on despite the cries of "Nein!"
I loathe thee surely for your fascist ways.
I loathe thee with all passion, your abuse
Of grievance, howled like a cur that bays,
You mongrel seeking worship as if Zeus. 
No king nor saint are you, but wretched berth
For hatred, lies, and fears that form your noose.
I shall but loathe thee until blessed death.

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Reflection:

This has been an overwhelming week. The actions of Administration 47 are escalating quickly, and while I could recant the many things that occurred this week—both disturbing and heartening—I prefer not to write about them directly. Enough people are already doing that. Instead, I wanted to create something that spoke more to the mixture of emotions I’ve been experiencing—anger, despondence, grief, fear, panic, sadness, and occasionally, a glimmer of hope. (Thanks, Gavin Newsome’s social media team!)

While puttering around the kitchen this morning, thinking about the horrors being inflicted on this country by the orange menace, my brain halted at the phrase, "How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways.” The sentiments it stirred in me felt appropriate to the moment. So, I decided to recast the original poem to reflect my current mood.

As an exercise, I determined to adhere as closely as possible to the structure and rhyme scheme of the original a sonnet, while also attempting to mirror some of its language, repurposing words and sounds to highlight alternate concepts and meanings.

For example, line 4 of Browning’s original poem ends with the words “ideal grace.” In this revision, I’ve ended line 4 with the phrase “your disgrace.” The original poem’s line 9 ends with the phrase “put to use,” which I have massaged to become “your abuse.” In line 12 of the original, Browning compares her love for the poem’s subject to a love she once felt for her “lost saints.” In my dark mirror, I declare the subject of the poem “no king nor saint.” Also in line 12, I took the original word ending the line, “breath,” and transformed it into the near rhyme “berth,” which can also be read as “birth” for a slightly different meaning. I’ve then concluded the poem with the original ending word and rhyme, “death.”

Here are the two rhyme schemes:

Browning          Feldman
A                        A
B                        B
B                        B
A                        A
A                        A
B                        B-ish (near rhyme to original)
B                        B-ish (near rhyme to original)
A                        A
C                        C
A                        A
C                        C
D                        D-ish (near rhyme to original)
C                        C
D                        D

And here’s the full original poem:

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

(This poem is in the public domain.)

Source: https://poets.org/poem/how-do-i-love-thee-sonnet-43

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ICYMI

Gavin Newsom Has a Terrific Response to Texas Gerrymandering

What the New Season of South Park Gets Right

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This Week’s Moment of Unconditional Love

Let me take you back to the long-ago days of 2014. We’d just brought three foster kittens into our home, rescued from the clutches of a disturbed acquaintance of an acquaintance of an acquaintance who reportedly was going to shoot them if he couldn’t find someone to take them off his hands. (Yikes!) Two of those three tuxedoed cuties ended up staying with us permanently, our girls Dora and Finny.

Here’s one of Finny’s baby pictures, which also explains the origins of her name. We were originally told this ball of fluff was a boy, and with that wild mane of hair, started referring to “him” as Zach Galifianakis (the whacked-out dude from the movie, “The Hangover”). Galifianakis quickly got shortened to “Finn.” Then, when we eventually combed through all the fur and realized our boy cat was missing a penis, “Finn” became “Finny.” And thus, she has remained.

Photo is mine. Finny is crazy. Love her. She’s cute.

Zach Galifianakis as Alan Garner in “The Hangover.” Image source: https://wallpapers.com/wallpapers/the-hangover-movie-poster-zach-galifianakis-no-pants-ziijq8ww49ro58gz.html