48 responses to “The formidable flatfish”

1. Oh my word, I love this:
   “There is a certain type of lie, that borrows strength
   from ligatures and bones”

   • Yes … I hear a lot of lies like that…

2. Smart and clever personification of a politician as a flatfish…with the line with ‘borrows’, I thought of a slant rhyme – ‘furrowed’, as brow or eyebrows ;0

   • I could see furrowed in a comb-over as well…. hmm

3. The flatfish of the future… what a great comparison. The politicians do give us a lot to work with these days.

   • Satire is great to work with

4. A very strong perspective on the politics of our time~ I specially admire these lines:

   On flat-screen monitors his fins direct the choruses,
   and his specific drums’ schematic lure us into trance.
   There is a certain type of lie, that borrows strength
   from ligatures and bones, there’s decay of flesh

   Happy OLN ~

   • I had fun writing these… really a lot of fun.

5. I love this – quite a clever approach 🙂

   • 🙂 We need some sarcasm sometimes..

6. Ooh, clever 🙂

   • Thank you 🙂

7. Kudos for the stunning allegory; our politicians have taken up Kabuki mixed with carnival barkers, hootchy-koochy dancers, bearded ladies & dancing dwarves. We fear for the rise of Flatfish in Flatbush, DC.

   • we shall overcomb

     • Ha.

8. I love your spoken version. This poem works especially well with your voice.

   • Thank you.. I bought a new microphone today… it was fun to do a new recording… I might move into podcasting poetry …

     • Do. I think it’s a great thing for poets to do. I’ve thought about it for Writing and Works but never plucked up the courage.

9. Love this…politics and politicians make me crazy! “We shall overcomb”…ha!

   • 🙂

10. With all the fish and decaying of flesh, you could almost have used this for Tuesday ^_^

    Loved your reading. I need a new mic- mine’s so hissy

11. I love the visceral, skewering imagery in this poem.

12. A powerful piece today. What really hit me was that great oxymoron at the end… “We burn like ice.” I love incongruous images like this. Nice.

13. We burn like ice – that’s very interesting to me 🙂 you have an interesting satire….

14. A clever piece!

15. I am not sure until when I can tolerate the pitch and speeches of politicians. Maybe soon. Interesting take, Bjorn

16. In so little time, you’ve abandoned the slavish meter and become the master of free verse (meanwhile conquering the daunting metaphor!) Excellent.

    • I think a lot of slavish meter exercise, makes free verse more flowing… Metaphors are fun, this time I just started from flatfish and used some free-writing … Lots of fun.

      • Your poetry has matured too and changed. It’s always amazing to me that this is not your first and possibly not even your second language. You guys embarrass those of us who have only learned and still haven’t mastered English! Kudos.

17. Oooh, an angry and satirical political statement, yet funny and subtle. I like this very much!
    Although, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure what this means – it sort of resonates, but am clueless where it’s going:
    ‘as fungi our fingers gorge
    the eyes of walled-in danaids.’

    • The danaids are the 50 maidens escaping in the Greek mythology… for me it was a metaphor (maybe too far-fetched) for our reactions to refugees…

      • Aaaah, got it…

18. Hiya Bjorn, Very powerful and pointed piece – both enjoyed and resonated with this. Would be good to see you write more about this aspect of life – you have the equipment and presence to do this. Strong start to the New Year, I think… With Best Wishes Scott

    • I think politics is great for poetry… and yes it’s something to dig deeper into

19. Such is life these days. O to return to the age of innocence

20. chanting falsehoods in perfect disguise
    of his words air seems coherent.

    Churning and chanting falsehood certainly the mark of politicians through the ages. Funny enough there are always the followers who stay around and happy picking up on the crumbs!

    Hank

21. I love that you use your poet’s voice to reflect the situations that we face. That’s one of our contributions.

22. I’d like to ascribe this to a few South African politicians as well, particularly that which is called a president here. It’s really terrible.

23. “his fins” – are you perhaps referring to “The Donald’s” toupee flapping in the breeze?

    • 😉

24. We shall overcomb! Ha! Excellent poem on politics in any of our varied countries but one certain overcombed and bombastic politician in the US immediately sprang to mind. Powerful statement and at the same time, wickedly and funnily sarcastic.

25. I added you to a 3-day challenge I tagged you for the second day. I’m posting on the 11th if you want to see it I will send you a link and PW email me silentlyheard@gmail.com

26. Oh my how much more formidable was your poem hearing it read by you … gave me the shivers as I saw the games of flatfish and followers the world-round.

27. I like your choice of the flatfish for your metaphor as some species can camouflage themselves on the bottom of the ocean. Sometimes I wonder about the real reason behind one candidate’s presidential run and whether he’s wearing false colors..

28. Flatfish = Donald Trump, an embarrassment to my nation and an affront to my soul.

29. i love this! so much thought, so much truth. thank you for speaking it!

    http://warningthestars.blogspot.com/

30. Very scary. “We are the armed. We’re strong. We’re flatfish followers”. Chilling. How did we get to this place – where blatantly flawed to-the-point-of-freak-like narcissists, are a viable option as world leaders?

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