Non-verbal

[indar]

I've never been able to raise
one eyebrow
like the late archconservative, 
William Buckley Jr..
Who can debate
that dismissive expression?
I can flare my nostrils
but that's a weak retort.
Lately, however, 
I've been working 
on an eloquently derisive
snort.

William Buckley Loses it against Chomsky - Bing video


 

[Tracy Mitchell]

I knew I was in huge trouble
when my father tilted his head forward
and looked at me with one eyebrow up.

My gift has been
to wiggle my ears
which also slides my scalp
back and forth, a talent which incited
disruptive laughter in elementary classes

and caused my father
to tilt his head forward
and looked at me with one eyebrow up

[Colm Roe]

Maybe that's all most of us can do, Linda. As long as enough people try....
Interesting poem, and thanks for introducing me to him. I trust his change of heart wasn't a cynical way to gain more votes.
 

[Eric Ashford]

Enjoyed this Indar.
The raised eyebrow and haughty stare can be devastating to ranting politicians, socialist cultural engineers and all those we should not waste words upon.

[indar]

I knew I was in huge trouble
when my father tilted his head forward
and looked at me with one eyebrow up.

Oh Tracy, I can't imagine growing up with a family member who raised one eyebrow. Obviously, you've managed to overcome it and turned out pretty good.

 I trust his change of heart wasn't a cynical way to gain more votes.

Hey Colm, Buckley never underwent a change of heart--he was obnoxious to the end. The great debate with Noam Chomsky raged for a long time on the TV program "Firing Line" which Buckley hosted. He was a kind of pseudo-intellectual gadfly. Chomsky (despite some strange political leanings) has been credited by some as the father of modern linguistics. He drove Buckley to distraction. So it was Chomsky who did not need to rely on the withering look-down-the-nose distainful expression and Buckley who lost it in the face of logical discourse and threatened to punch Chomsky out.

The raised eyebrow and haughty stare can be devastating to ranting politicians,

Hey Eric, on the other hand it can be a last resort effort to intimidate someone who is actually making sense against one's own faulty argument. There is no way to address that expression at times so my point is there have been times I've wished I could just out-haughty it when my perfectly logical points are failing.