Our poet is missing. Poet, come back! We need your voice, your wit, your passion.
“The Billionaire’s Burden” (based on
“The White Man’s Burden”, by Rudyard
Kipling”)
Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
Send forth the tests ye breed
Go bind your schools to test style,
To serve his market’s need;
The weight of heavy VAMness,
On captive folk and mild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half teacher and half child.
Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
In patience to abide,
To veil the scheme for teach-bots,
The prime intent to hide;
With coded speech of Orwell,
You really must take pains
To make a hefty profit,
And see the major gains.
Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
The public schools to fleece—
Fill full the days with testing
And Common Core disease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end that you have sought,
Destroy the Opt-out movement
Lest work be all for naught.
Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
A tawdry rule of Kings,
The toil of IT keeper,
The sale of software things.
The data ye shall enter,
On privacy to tread,
To make a “decent” living,
Until they all are dead.
Take up the Billionaire’s burden
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard—
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:—
“Why brought he us from bondage,
From stupid blissful night?”
Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
Ye dare not stoop to less—
So fulminate ‘gainst Apple
To cloak your Siri-ness;
And strategize in whispers,
For all ye leave or do,
Or silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh Diane on you!
Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
Have done with childish ways—
The Kindergarten playing,
The test-less former days
Come now, to join Reform-hood,
The pride of Duncan years
Cold, edged with Gates-bought wisdom,
The plan of Billionaires!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Even poets need a vacation. With school starting up again, perhaps the poet will find subject matter that can be approached from outside the current political circus.
Oh how I miss SomeDAM Poet! I want to read more DAM comments. I want to make sure Poet knows I was being facetious when I wrote that stupid, DAM Trump Troll poem. I think better DAM thoughts every day now. I pray — actual prayers — thankful for the poems we have received, and hopeful that Poet will come back some DAM day, maybe after Poet votes for Dr. Stein (a good thing). I’m with her, with Diane: “Poet, come back! We (I) need your voice, your wit, your passion.” DAMmit, I need you!
Poet, you’re my friend. Unconditionally.
Dear Leftie…the Poet was not his usual wonderfully verbal self after the Conventions, and his disappointment was palpable. Perhaps he needs some time to reassess and rest his gray matter, and bring down his blood pressure…and then, come back to us refreshed and filled with insightful verse. Our American political theater is enough to undermine even the strongest among us…and Poet falls into that category.
Love and good wishes to you Poet…hope you are well, and are merely reassessing. We miss you and look forward to your return.
But Leftie, my valued friend, I cannot imagine that your input was key to Poet taking time off. Please stop the self flagellation.
Ellen,
I will try. Thank you, dearest friend.
Poets are important. Please SomeDAM Poet return with your gifts of wit and wisdon and rhyme.
I recall high school students in Cincinnati protesting a suddent “ban” on the scheduled appearance of poet Nikki Giovanni, a speaker of truth to power back in the 1960s, and still going strong. The students were predominantly African American. How many time in your life have you seen students marching and demanding “We want our poetry.” “We want our poetry.”
Or for that matter a bunch of teachers and defenders of public education saying “We want to hear from SomeDAM Poet!”
This one is hands down my favorite:
https://dianeravitch.net/2015/09/19/our-blog-poets-rhyming-commentary-on-the-mywayman-with-apologies-to-alfred-noyes/
A fine update on a new era of imperialism and colonization, this time happening right here in the US.
On the poem: isn’t there a great similarity between how the maffia operated in the ’70s and how the billionaires operate now? Take away the explicit violence, and what are you left with? Enormous influence on how the country is run through corruption.
I have been watching “Inside the American mob” on netflix, but it’s also available on youtube. Not accidentally, the founder of the American maffia, Lucky Luciano is compared to Gates (and not Einstein!!!!)
Similarly to the delusional view of millions that Gates is some kind of Godly figure who is competent in everything and who knows best in everything, maffia bosses were also viewed by many as heroes. They were even viewed as civil right leaders. It’s worth listening to the story of Joe Colombo, one of the 5 maffia bosses
To signify their cultural influence (which included workers unions), consider the fact that they made the use of the word maffia forbidden in any governmental communication. Colombo made Coppola cross out all the occurrences of maffia from the script of The Godfather.