Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Talking Politics - Jan 29 2024

 

Talking Politics

Jan 29 2024


We used to talk politics.


Like Monday morning quarterbacks

we replayed the games

rated players

traded strategies;

more horse race

than public policy.


But now, since the sides have hardened

it's become too quarrelsome

too fraught.

Ideology

had replaced innocent fun.


Even talking sports

is complicated,

what with big money,

corporate double-speak,

race and misogyny.

Our fun conversations

has been reduced to banality

   —  celebrity gossip,

bad TV,

the weather report.

Awkward pauses

we never had before.


So we drift apart

like slow-motion divorce.

How I miss

the civility

of our superficial disputes

mock outrage.

Didn't matter

that whatever we said

never made a difference;

the powers-that-be

were oblivious,

nothing ever changed.


They took away our fun

since it all became so serious.

Politics

in the old days

was just entertainment.

Now, stakes raised

what once were friendly rivals

are seen as enemies;

it's life and death,

existential threat,

the end of the known world.


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