Skip Navigation

The Daily Dish - 2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

Poem For The Day

By The Daily Dish
Nov 26 2008, 12:46 PM ET

Haunting, yet profound:

And the relevance to me
With that issue,
As we spoke
About Africa and some
Of the countries
There that were
Kind of the people succumbing
To the dictators
And the corruption
Of some collapsed governments
On the Continent,
The relevance
Was Alaska’s.

Julian Gough celebrates a new voice in poetry, Sarah Palin:

What the philistine media take for incoherence is, in fact, the fruitful ambiguity of verse.



Here she is, in a work I have taken to calling “The Relevance of Africa.” (Not a single word or comma has been changed, but the line breaks are placed where they naturally fall.) In it, Palin blends the energy of free verse with the austerity of a classic 14-line sonnet... A great poet needs to leave open the door between the conscious and unconscious; Sarah Palin has removed her door from its hinges. A great poet does not self-censor; Sarah Palin seems authentically innocent of what she is saying. She could be the most natural, visionary poet since William Blake.

Presented by

More at The Atlantic

The Weakening of Nations: How Tax Work-Arounds Undermine Our Society Those Cayman Islands Accounts Will Undermine Our Society
French Moms: We're Not as 'Superior' at Parenting as You Americans Think French Moms Aren't 'Superior'
A Brief History of the to-do List and the Psychology of Its Success A Brief History of the To-Do List and the Psychology of Its Success
Here's What Humbert Humbert Looks Like (as a Police Composite Sketch) Is This What Humbert Humbert Really Looks Like?
translating the Bible—Into an E-Book That Works on Any Phone Translating the Bible—Into an E-Book That Works on Any Phone
Special Report
The Civil War National Portrait Gallery The Civil War
A 150th-anniversary commemorative issue, with Atlantic work by Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and others. Read more ›
View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

The Civil War, Part 3: The Stereographs

Feb 10, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)