Poetry. Yep, I am writing about it again because of 100 minutes spent in Walmart with my granddaughter. But before I get to that, here’s a poetry story from just last week that made me want to pen a limerick.
There was a darn man from the South Who let mean things ooze from his mouth. He lived in one state but represented another, This darn old man from the South.
Senator Tommy Tuberville, who was elected to represent Alabama but with a primary residence in Florida, decided that poetry nights on aircraft carriers were “woke.”
“Secretary [Carlos] Del Toro of the Navy, he needs to get to building ships, recruiting, and he needs to get wokeness out of our Navy,” Tuberville said Wednesday evening on Fox News. “We have people doing poems on aircraft carriers over the loudspeaker. It is absolutely insane the direction we're headed in our military.” (reported by Business Insider, Sept. 7, 2023) Them’s fighting words to a former English teacher, people.
Them’s should be fighting words to anyone affected by Tuberville holding up military promotions for political reasons.
The poetry in question had to do with a USS Gerald F. Ford service member who read something with a LBGTQ theme in honor of her grandfather. The Navy’s 2023 response to Senator Tuberville came from its highest-ranking officer, Adm. Mike Gilday (Business Insider, Sept. 7, 2023).
“I’ll tell you why I'm particularly proud of this sailor,” Gilday said in response. “Her grandfather served during World War II, and he was gay, and he was ostracized in the very institution that she not only joined and is proud to be a part of, but she volunteered to deploy on Ford. And she’ll likely deploy again next month when Ford goes back to sea.”
Tuberville makes me want to write about poetry just to spite his excuse-of-aformer- Texas-Tech-footballcoach self. But to be fair, I was going to anyway. All because of Lillie and Walmart on a Labor Day holiday afternoon.
Eight-year-old Lillie expressed a wish to have a day with me. Her little sister is still not in school, so I keep four-year-old Ellie every Thursday for our fun day. Lillie is left out because she’s sitting in a secondgrade classroom. She’s too young to remember Tuesdays with Lillie when she was a baby.
So, I suggested to my older granddaughter that she make a list of things she wanted to do. Her nofun parents implemented a strict policy of no buying anything but lunch and dessert. Lillie and I complained but complied.
She asked for and received two Allsup’s burritos capped off with a Brownie Blizzard. Then came the visit to the store with everything but my favorite pita chips. For an hour and forty minutes, I pushed a buggy down every aisle, savoring her joy. Lillie browsed, touched, explained, gawked, and provided a child’s commentary on $5 DVDs and doll clothes. We bought nothing, but she got everything: time.
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. – Robert Herrick A non-poet can express the same thought. Spend time with those you love because tomorrow is no guarantee.
I view this time with two little girls as the poet did with his flowers, gathering all the memories that I may.
And Tommy Tuberville, get a life—and a primary residence in Alabama.
Snyder, Texas, native Sue Jane Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher whose thought-provoking commentary appears occasionally in several West Texas newspapers, including The Texas Spur and The Caprock Courier.
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