It has a good beat...

I follow the news regularly and form opinions about what I read. Like untold number of others, I occasionally write down my opinions and observations. Lately, I've also been writing double-dactyls pretty regularly. So I decided to see if I can regularly compose a double dactyl about a major figure or story currently in the news.

The double-dactyl* or "higgledy-piggledy" is a nonsense poem that conforms to a rigid structure and rhyme scheme. Invented by Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal in 1951, the poems have eight lines (two stanzas, each of which is comprised of three lines in dactylic dimeter, and one that is one dactyl plus one stressed syllable). The first line is nonsense words, the second is the subject of the poem (usually a proper noun), and one line in the second stanza is a single double-dactylic word. Additionally, the fourth and eighth lines must rhyme.

The news is often depressing. Double-dactyls, however, are pithy, usually humorous, and often profane. And, as someone close to me noted (in her first double-dactyl, no less), "dactylic syllables/sound like a waltz." So commenting on the news double-dactylically provides the means to make the news a little light--and a little melodic.

To begin with an example, I could have published the following in 2003:

Lazily-dazily
Play-acting President
"Mission Accomplished!" the
banner proclaimed.

When this proved untrue, Bush
Characteristically
Pointed his finger, and
Shifted the blame.

The rhyme is mildly tortured, but the idea is clear.

And now for today's news:

Despite the devastation of New Orleans and the woefully inadequte evacuation, the displacement of many of Mayor Nagin's supporters, and the fallout from the Mayor's unfortunate "chocolate city" comments, Mayor Ray Nagin recently won re-election as Mayor of New Orleans. What was expected to be an easy win a year ago, became a narrow--and not entirely expected--victory over Lt. Governor, Mitch Landrieu.

Higgledy-piggledy
New Orleans Mayor Nagin
Biblical flooding 'most
Washed him aside.

Surfing the waters of
Ethnocentricity
Ray's opportunities
Rose with the tide.

(This particular poem highlights a drawback in using this rigidly structured form of poetry to comment on serious events: it's easy to sacrifice content for form. The language above can easily be interpreted to insinuate that Mayor Nagin responded to Hurricane Katrina opportunistically. However, I am merely suggesting that in the end, despite some significant missteps, he rode out the literal and figurative storms quite successfully.)

*I thank Joel Derfner for introducing me to this verse form last summer.