[New-Poetry] Thought for the day after the elections

[Rsgwynn1 at cs.com]

In a message dated 11/8/2006 6:10:35 PM Central Standard Time, 
JforJames at aol.com writes: 
> Elizabeth,
> 
> 
> I'd go farther than that...To write a poem, in contermporary
>  society, is a political act.
>  Finnegan
> 
I disagree.  An aesthetic act, maybe, but not political.  "Political" comes 
from polis, the Greek word for the city (state).  It's a long jump to claim 
that any aesthetic act is also a political one, and, yes, I know "the only 
protest is beauty." I don't believe that the personal is political, as someone 
famously claimed.  Personal is personal, unless you're living under Stalin, where 
it becomes a crime against the state to be personal.  In this society there is 
no such crime.  We can make any kind of personal statement we wish to make; 
this forum is proof of that.  To imagine otherwise is to be paranoid and silly.  
James, I don't wish to be unkind, but your statement is hyperbolically silly. 
 Can you provide one example--i. e. any poem--that supports what you've said?
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