Welcome to The Tangled Branch!  Join us.

Stories from the Silence #4

General Poetry - post, comment, review, critique
Post Reply
indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Stories from the Silence #4

Post by indar » Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:13 pm

Red Scare, Black List: The McCarthy Hearings on Anti-American Activities 

Orson Welles, director, actor, writer: movie Citizen Kane
dared to question excesses of capitalism.
Blacklisted: left America 1948, silenced. 

Langston Hughs, jazz poet: Harlem Renaissance,
dared to citicize treatment of Negros in America,
called to testify 1953. Blacklisted, silenced. 

Dorothy Parker, writer, poet, critic, arrested 1950 at the height of her career
for supporting Screenwriter's Guild and the Anti Nazi League
both commie fronts. Blacklisted, silenced. 

And the Labor Union leaders and the homosexual educators
and the left-leaning liberal members of intellectual communities
who attended secret meetings, called one another comrade,
who hated America and tried to bring it down
in league with Russian commie red operatives. 

We saw what was going on
revealed by Herbert Philbrick who weekly foiled
outrageous plots on the TV series I led Three Lives
in which, as a double spy, he infiltrated evil doings
right here in freedom-loving America. 

Matty11
Posts: 1585
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:58 pm

Re: Stories from the Silence #4

Post by Matty11 » Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:51 am

hi Linda
 
I think the naming is an effective device in your poem because that was a focus of the hearings: shaming and bullying the individual. For that reason I'd cut S4.

best

Phil

indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Stories from the Silence #4

Post by indar » Fri Sep 13, 2019 10:23 am

Thanks for the read and reasonable suggestion Phil. I'll cogitate on cutting S4 or perhaps including something else. The hearings were so far-reaching and became so ridiculous I feel the first 3 examples need to be expanded upon somehow.

poet-e
Posts: 247
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 3:10 pm

Re: Stories from the Silence #4

Post by poet-e » Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:07 pm

Heard more of the Hollywood Ten... didn't know of these authors were Blacklisted.  Each of the 3 first stanzas can be each own poem.

Feels like there should be a transition between 3rd and 4th stanzas.

indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Stories from the Silence #4

Post by indar » Thu Sep 19, 2019 5:03 pm

Thanks I wrote this one recently and it takes me months of fiddling to feel it ready for who-knows-what. Yes I agree the many unamed members of organizations deemed commie need a better trnsition.

poet-e
Posts: 247
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 3:10 pm

Re: Stories from the Silence #4

Post by poet-e » Fri Sep 20, 2019 2:03 pm

Takes me yrs, lol.

indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Stories from the Silence #4

Post by indar » Sat Sep 21, 2019 6:34 pm

I too dink around with years-old poems

Post Reply