Jess Hemerly of A Great Notion points us to a Slate article about John Kerry’s campaign slogan “Let America be America again,” a line snatched from a poem by Harlem renaissance poet Langston Hughes. The irony is that the poem itself was written with ironic intent–Hughes was apparently a vocal Communist and Soviet Union supporter.
Instead of misappropriating Hughes’s poetry, Jess suggests Kerry sample some other beats:
from Ginsberg’s “America”:
“America I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel. Vote Kerry.”
“America stop pushing me I know what I am doing. Vote Kerry.”
“America why are your libraries full of tears? Vote Kerry.”from e.e. cummings:
“a politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man. vote kerry, his arse is fresher than Bush’s.”from Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s “I am Waiting”:
“Are you waiting for the American Eagle to really spread its wings and straighten up and fly right? Vote Kerry.”
“I am waiting for the lost music to sound again in the Lost Continent in a new rebirth of wonder. Vote Kerry.”okay i’m ridiculous but do you see how ridiculous the Hughes thing is?