A Poet’s Choice

By Pascal R. Politano

A Poet’s Choice comprises new poems and a collection selected by the author from his earlier books of poetry. The Writer’s Digest, in awarding him a first prize for unrhymed poetry, had this to say: “[His] poetry offers gracefully presented traditional language, [is] well-ordered, rhythmic and concise. It avoids prosy explanations, poetized clichés, and the mundane sentimental phrases that can often mar a poem’s possible elegance.” Following such predecessors as Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert James Waller (whose self-published book Love in Black and White became the hit film The Bridges of Madison County), Politano has self-published all his books. This marks his fifteenth book in print. Politano tells us that … “[His] poetry, like all art, should be enjoyed by the greatest number of people…a poem shouldn’t be so personal…so “private” that no one except yourself or the person for whom you wrote it…can understand it well enough to be able to appreciate it.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728328201

Pascal R. Politano

Pascal R. Politano’s latest book could be considered a companion to or a second volume of his last survey of the state of our Union. It expands on certain matters covered more briefly in As Darkness Falls and reaffirms others that are worthy of reexamination. As he points out in this latest treatise, he takes us on a ramble through the current state of the Union in its domestic and foreign affairs; our relations with Russia, China, North and South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Iran, and more recently, Ukraine. In a word, the author addresses the crises we face in more detail, and suggests possible solutions to resolve them. With gut-wrenching candor and descriptive language, Politano tells us why racism still exists in this country for reasons that transcend skin color and the societal prejudices that have existed in this country for centuries, and he returns to the threat of global climate change and the urgent need for Constitutional change throughout the book. As the book’s subtitle implies, Politano explains how avarice, cupidity, the overweening, unquenchable striving for wealth and power in both the public and private sectors in America, domestically and abroad, is in great part responsible for the precarious position of our “Great Experiment in Democracy” today. And as a leitmotiv, a dominant recurring theme throughout the book, and somewhere given in his esteemed Latin: Too much freedom debases us (Omnes deteriores sumus licentia). In a recent interview, the author revealed that his greatest concern now is that during this time of such disarray in our sociopolitical affairs domestically, the United States is in no condition to engage in a major war, either conventional or even worse, a nuclear one. Politano feels that should China actually invade and ultimately repossess Taiwan, and at the same time conclude a pact with Russia, and perhaps even Iran, victory for the Ukrainians would become a forlorn hope. Adding to our domestic problems, he sees the virtually endless, bipartisan, legal wrangling between our “so-called Department of Justice” and former President Trump, his enablers, and the millions of deluded citizens who blindly support him, even as evidence of his criminal acts while in and out of office continues to grow. He finds it inconceivable that newscasters still speak of Trump as a potential candidate for the Presidency in 2024. Pascal R. Politano served twenty years in the United States Army in a variety of fields such as intelligence, R&D, psychological operations, political warfare, nuclear weapons employment, and special operations. He was selected for the Distinguished Instructor Award at the JFK institute for Military Assistance. He was also the U.S. Senior Advisor to the Republic of Vietnam Political Warfare College. Following his retirement, he lectured for eight years in English and Political Science for the University of Maryland in Europe. He was selected as intra-European faculty speaker on Political Warfare and also was a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. He has lived in the Far East, Germany, Italy, and France, and has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South and Central America. He now resides in a remote area in the foothills of the Adirondacks where he continues to write fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

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© 2019 Pascal R. Politano. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/29/2022

ISBN: 978-1-7283-2821-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-2822-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-2820-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019914595

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

A Gathering Storm

A Sharper Seasoning of Truth

The Lamps Are Going Out

Come Back, Little Phoebus?

Political What?

Western Civ

Ex Libris

Cosmology 201*

Hearts and Minds

Non c’ è Niente da Fare

La Commedia è Finita*

The Poet’s Corner

That Ceaseless Succession

That Ineffable Silence

Painting the Lily

The Tentative Transport of Joy

Un Ballo in Maschera

Al-Quahirah

White Shadows

An Insurmountable Bitterness

Snow Diamonds

The Dark Woods

A Pearl in My Foul Oyster

The Demands of Honors

Think Small

What’s Love Got To Do With It

The Tragedy of Love

Croce Felice

Loosely Labeled Love

A Disenchanting Dichotomy

What Do They Want?

The Second Honeymoon

The Embrace

Rusalka’s Quest*

Rosalie

Torment

Othello Wasn’t Jealous

A Treasure

The Rambler

The Merchants of Death

The Snowman

Il n’ y a Pas Aucun Chemin de Fleuers*

Missing in Action*

The O & E Department

Building Blocks

The Messerschmidt

Old Goats and Kids

One July (near Albert)

Peace at Warlencourt

How Can You?

Death Be Not Proud

The Man in the Moon

A Wastrel’s Prayer

The Netherlands

Never Such Innocence Again

Barnegat Bay

Little Red Wooden Fish

Carousel

Jeux D’ Enfants

Je Ne Regrette Rien?

Grades of Clay

Cotton Candy

Cell Phones

What Cheek!

Toys R Us

Bonnie Beasties

The Feudal Spirit

The Prince of Darkness

Swallows

Sea Horses

En Fin La Paix

Grief Relief

End or Beginning?

Sintram’s Cavalier

A Celestial Library

Dedicated to Cynthia A. Politano, my Cordelia,

who has never left my side, in both senses.

A Gathering Storm

A Sharper Seasoning of Truth

And a much shorter one, if you please, than a long book to reveal

All the corners of that very large old canvas called the story of man.

There are times when less is better; when what we so try to conceal

Must be faced and accepted as a fact that we have wished to ban.

We no longer can remain indifferent to what has been our true role.

However much we tell ourselves it’s all God’s plan and blame fate

For all the ills of the world, and all those evils outside our control.

We must accept the cold reality that any awareness comes too late.

The old men who are most to blame will be spared that final horror.

The rest, who have given those cold-hearted malefactors a reprieve,

Should anyone be left to record our history, will bear the dishonor.

But our abused planet can rest at last, when no one is left to deceive.

So all man’s given gifts have availed him nothing, it is sad to say.

But then, sadly also, you cannot make a good pot out of poor clay.¹*

The Lamps Are Going Out

That was Grey of Fallodon’s ominously grim prognostication,

As he watched the lamplighters on the eve of the Great War.

I predict matters more dire, not in Europe, but in this nation.

The dismal blackouts of that next war, a greater conflagration,

Will be as nothing when they are compared to what is in store.

When our Grid goes down, there will be total, utter desolation.

The cheery song When the Lights Go on Again (a re-creation)

Will have lost its meaning, like a key that fits no locked door.

Look where you will, you will find no electro-communication.

No lights, no TV, no phones—smart, or by any other classification.

No power tools, no air conditioning or video games, what’s more.

And cadmium-ion batteries don’t last forever (another damnation!)

We’ve been caught in our own worldwide web of electrification,

Like Byron’s eagle no longer through rolling clouds could soar,

Whose own feather winged the dart that brought his annihilation.

Electricity, one of the oldest sources of power of man’s creation,

And the sine qua non for the myriad newest devices we so adore,

Taken for granted for so long, like an old, dependable relation,

Will die, suddenly, and take with him all our great expectations.

Come Back, Little Phoebus?

Little because, comparatively, Phoebus is;

but merely in a relative, comparative sense.

Relative as in "cut him out in little stars ...."

There are stars out there which make ours

look insignificant, miniscule by comparison.

But, he is ours, and little is not demeaning

but amiable, like Li’l Doggie, or Little Darlin’.

Climate change? Our willful gas keeps heat in,

but fortunately it also keeps some rays out,

or we’d all fry, so somehow we’re grateful.

Come back? Are we begging spring to return,

tired of all the snow, sleet, and chilling wind?

But will we miss those much maligned effects

when Phoebus triumphs, winter is no more, and

blazing summer becomes an unendurable hell?

Or are we just pining for those happier days,

when we were young; saw things differently?

Those golden days of youth (gaudeamus igitur),

when sunrise and sunset had more