Prejudgegians are all so fondly unlikable
Striving vainly to pit one nation against another
Manifesting hatred while they sit back and enjoy the battle
Bathing in bloodthirsty verse as flags proudly wave o'er head
Oh that most foreign land of frozen hearts and blind visionaries
I just can't bear the thought of briefly thinking of their un-kind
I loath them so thoroughly I'll not offer another forethought
Or write nary an unkind rhyme of how I despise their treacherous lies
I hope no one takes offense, but if so, then I suppose I apologize

07/09/2015

Author's Note: Entered in a poetry competition titled "State a Nation You Do Not Like" in the forums on another poetry site. The apology at he end is a backhanded apology, not intended as real. Have you ever heard someone say something that is clearly offensive to women or another ethnicity or religion, and then instead of saying "I'm sorry", they say, "if anyone was offended, I apologize". Well that's a load of horseshit! Of course they were offended, there is no "if" about it. And in that same moment, they make the apology a contingency rather than a hard fact. There should be no caveat, it should only be "I am sorry" because they should have known not to be so stupid to begin with, but even before the beginning, like God before the beginning, the hatred that gave birth to the thought should never have inspired the words. I aimed my faux-apology at the person who started the competition for having decided that we should write a poem about a nation we dislike. Originally I titled the poem, "Norway" because that is where he is from. But then I realized I was giving in to the very prejudice he was eliciting. So I thought about what he was doing to me, and alienating me from my own beliefs popped into my head. JJ

Posted on 07/11/2015
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