Our Poet's October Poem

“WHAT’S IN A NAME?”

                “The President made a special trip to Alaska, to celebrate

                the restoration of the native name of Denali to the peak

                formerly known as Mount McKinley . In the same week,

                media sources made much of stories of injuries sustained by

                plebes at West Point, during what was described as the

                ‘Annual Pillow Fight.’”  -- News item

                        In a wide-spread reclaiming,

                        Bureaucrats are renaming

                        Old things deemed no longer P. C.—

                        And for white Mount McKinley,

                        Its name seemed a thinly-

                        Disguisedbow to white pedigree.

                        So from now on, by golly,

                        ‘Twillbe called Mount Denali,

                        To the cheers of a thousand Aleuts,

                        Though they don’t have a Bible,

                        Restoring this tribal

                        Icon makes whites shake in their boots.

                        And at West Point, the plebes—

                        Seldom thought of as dweebs—

                        Flailed each other with Kevlar-stuffed pillows,

                        Forsaking war-studies,

                        Belabored their buddies,

                        Flak-vested like gray armadillos.

                        Now in bureaucratese,

                        Old“Yous may”, if you please,

                        Considering genus and phylum,

                        Casts“Academy” out,

                        And in future, no doubt,

                        Be renamed  “Military Asylum”.

                        9-14-15