Poems

Doom, Despair, Disappointment

75 Comments

So it looks like the government shutdown / standoff / slapdown is over – for now. Each year our leaders seem to find a way to assure us that we will have another horrible confrontation two years down the road. Start stockpiling. 2014 is coming!

I was struck by the tone that was set in the afternoon press conference announcing the agreement – universal dissatisfaction.

Finally, Minnesota’s poltical warlords can emerge from their bunkers to agree on something – everyone thinks the settlement, the handiwork for which they sacrificed thousands of disagreeable hours, is universally appalling.

Which is a situation that just begs for an insipid little poem.

We closed down parks across the state
to strike a deal we all can hate.

We braced ourselves and wouldn’t move
for terms of which we don’t approve.

Stopped paying daycare costs for tykes
to get a budget no one likes.

Refused to let the horses race
to set the stage for this disgrace.

Let all the aid to towns subside
to force this pact we can’t abide

We didn’t budge. We pitched our tent
to make this legal excrement.

And did I mention anywhere
we’ll vote for what we cannot bear?

We hate the outcome. Hate it bad.
But that’s the only choice we had!

Can you recall a story with a more disappointing ending?

75 thoughts on “Doom, Despair, Disappointment”

  1. Dale,
    Love the poem!!!!
    I have a slightly different spin

    Think it’s best not to gloat
    Before the legislative vote

    Here in the Midwest
    Glum is all for the best

    Poor were helped
    No matter how much the repubs helped

    Koch and Zeller
    Will have poll numbers in the cellar

    State government will be back at work
    Even tho’ many acted like a jerk

    This isn’t much of a poem
    But it celebrates that Krista is no longer stuck at home!

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    1. congrats krista, to bad you couldnt enjoy hte time off more. now at least you will enjoy work for a day or two. i still don’t understand unplugging the freezer.

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      1. They told us we had to turn everything off and unplug all appliances and electronic equipment. The network was taken offline. We had to clean out the fridge in the break-room, open it and unplug it. We also had two freezers full of fish samples for testing: contaminant testing and oxytetracycline-marked walleyes for age and growth testing. At the last minute, the hatchery supervisor was deemed essential and I suspect the freezers were left on (I don’t know for sure.) We were supposed to empty, open and unplug them but I don’t think it happened. When they shut down, they really mean it.

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      3. Yes. We are laid off, so we are technically no longer employees. They told us not to come back until it’s over. They did allow us to keep our keys though. The unions signed an MOU with the state that says the state is not to pay us out (severance) and that we can be recalled to our jobs with a simple phone call rather than be hired back.

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  2. Rise and Swallow this “Legal Excrement” Baboons!

    A literary ending that I thought really stunk, stunk as much as the end of this particular political saga, belongs to the novel, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblesky. I arrived at the end of that book with the same internal sense of disappointment:

    Whew I’m glad that’s over. And I/we endured all this for what?

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    1. I forgot to mention that one of the few satisfying parts of this were the extraordinarily unflattering pictures of Koch and Zellar that appeared on various media outlets. These two “legislators” routinely oppose everything, including health care. I was appalled when I saw their pictures. They both could use a talk from their Drs. about weight management–perhaps that is why they oppose health care–they both obviously need some! Candidates for diabetes they both will be.

      They both looked as awful in pictures as their political positions as they rolled themselves up to the microphones.

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      2. I feel like I’m sniping when I say such a thing, but that was truly my response.

        It has occurred to me as the morning has gone by that they bill themselves as “Conservatives.” However, there is nothing conservative about borrowing this kind of money just so they can say “We did not raise taxes.”

        From now on I will think of Republicans not as “Conservatives,” but instead, as “Rigids.” They are so caught up in the no tax concept that they are profligate spenders due to their rigid stance.

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      3. I agree, Jacque. I thought they both looked horrible too. They both looked pretty tense and displeased.

        I agree with your comments about the word “conservative.” I’ve also noticed that they seem more willing to amend the constitution than other groups, especially when it is a social issue. Making certain that marriage is only between a man and a woman seems like a special interest issue to me and we should not amend our constitution for every wind that blows. (We are a free country, but only if everyone is just the same!)

        I’m glad they lost out on the policy changes. I think those changes would have done a lot of harm to our Minnesota in the long term.

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    2. Jacque… I actually was surprised at the end of Edgar Sawtelle, because in Hamlet (which the author clearly had in his mind while writing this book) EVERYBODY is dead in the end.

      The book that I actually threw across the room because of the ending was “The Silent Tower” by Barbara Hambly. As I got closer and closer to the end I kept thinking that it didn’t seem to resolving itself on time and, sure enough, it was part one of what became a trilogy. I just didn’t see that coming. Luckily the book didn’t hit anything breakable.

      Dale – “legal excrement” is fabulous!

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  3. I am almost always disappointed the day after election day – some years spectacularly so (Jesse Ventura? Really?). That’s why I always loved Martin Sabo. No matter how bad it got in the rest of the world, at least I always felt secure that at least one person I voted for would get elected!

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    1. I had exactly the same feelings about Sabo. He was a good legislator, and a darn nice guy. And there was solace in knowing that even if none of my other favored candidates were elected, he at least would be returning to Washington to do something useful.

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  4. I guess I’ve been fortunate in that I can’t remember reading any books that ended any worse than this political settlement. But sometimes I feel I’m in the middle of a story that will have a horrible ending just as bad as this political saga. This is not the time or place to go into details (too personal, too long and complicated), but I can see no way to end this particular story that will be anything but a total mess. I’m sure some of you baboons have been in similar situations and have lived to tell the story of your survival…perhaps I will gain some baboon wisdom from hanging out with you on this blog. Too bad the political powers in this state couldn’t gain some baboon wisdom, but somehow I can’t see many of them enjoying this place.

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    1. You will find wisdom, support, humor, and kindness here-I wish they could be packaged and infused in every politician in our country.

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    3. Gosh, Edith. I really do understand what you mean. I worked in a really bad situation for the last 14 years. I thought it would always be that way and that there was no hope for a positive outcome. I sometimes believed that I might not even survive it. In the end, there was no way to go but through (mig, I believe) and through it I went. I cried. I didn’t sleep. I gathered my strength and did the right thing, even though I risked my job and my reputation. And now, six months later, I can’t WAIT to get back to work. The monster is gone because I had courage. I owe a debt to this wise group. You will find support here, Edith.

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      1. opinions are like belly buttons edith, evrybody has one. on this blg you get opinions and you can do with them what you will. we are a bunch of surviviors that philosophize wiith our keyboards. daily. cmon in. get some opinion.

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      5. When I was nine months old I had surgery for an umbilical hernia and they removed my belly button entirely. Don’t assume everyone has a bellybutton.

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  5. As much as I like Margaret Atwood’s writing, I have to admit that most of her books just…stop. They don’t end, the story just stops. More than a little unsatisfying. I haven’t been able to get myself to read her two most recent books mostly because I don’t think I’d treat the books nicely if there was not resolution – I might pull a VS (and, with my luck, break something I like).

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  6. Well, I suppose the story of the Scott expedition to the South Pole has a pretty grim ending. I also found the ending of the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie fairly unsatisfactory. I am taking a trip to Luverne next week, so at least I can stop at a rest area if I need to. I am happy that Krista will be back at work. My cousin’s son was furloughed from his job with the DNR in Moorhead, and now he is back to work, too.

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    1. Yes, halleluia about the rest areas, as we’re traveling west next week (though we won’t be in Minnesota for long, will we?).

      So I can see the current Pirates movie (the one with Ian McShane in it) without seeing the Third Pirates.. movie?

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      1. I’ll let you know-we are seeing it tonight at the Riverview (which is where we will also see the last Harry Potter movie, when it gets there-hate crowds, love real butter on the popcorn) 🙂

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      2. I love all the little older theatres around the Cities. For sheer pretty-box-in-an-ugly-box-ness, The Heights took my breath away.

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  7. Good morning to all:

    What comes to my mind is situations that end badly. I don’t know if they are the same as dissapointing endings. I am thinking of films that don’t have the usual Hollywood ending. Maybe some of these none Hollywood endings are good endings, but they are dissappointing if you were hoping that there would be a happy ending. I’m thing of movies like Easy Rider and Thelma and Louise which end with wipe outs. At the showing of The Future at the Walker the film maker, Miranda July, said she was tempted to have a Hollywood ending and decided againest it. The Furure is a very good film which I recommend. It is showing at the Lagoon in Minneapolis.

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    1. Well, I am dissapointed by the number of typos I left in my comment. It is a mess to go with the messy ending to the shut down.

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    2. One of my favorite movies has an “unhappy” ending…”Unforgiven” is hands-down my favorite Western, probably my favorite Clint Eastwood movie and just darn good. But you can’t claim that it ends well. It ends as it ought to, but not well. (“Million Dollar Baby” was like that, too – but not as satisfying, and a lot more gruesome.)

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  8. I just watched a movie called “Down in the Valley” starring Edward Norton Jr. I mostly watched it because I admire Norton, who is the nephew of a dear friend. But lordy, about halfway through the movie the characters began to do silly things that made no sense, and it just got worse and worse.

    One of the best books I’ve read in many years is Bel Canto, by Anne Patchett. But as I remember, that book had not one but four bad endings.

    None of them, however, reek like this political settlement. I don’t blame Dayton. I think he was right to believe that the shutdown was worse for the state than this POS settlement would be.All the “credit” goes to the current crop of Republicans.

    I’m outta here!

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    1. I liked Norton in The Painted Veil. Not a very happy ending, but that’s Maugham for you.

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  9. I never cared much for the resolution of Pride and Prejudice. I thought Elizabeth should have sent stuffy Mr. Darcy packing. Sense and Sensibility was a much better story.

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  10. Oh but I love teazing stuffy men. Perhaps there is too much Colin Firth charm associated with the character of Darcy for me to think of Darcy as anything but a riot.

    Is there a running list of books mentioned in trail discussions somewhere?

    The epilogue to Deathly Hallows made me cringe.

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    1. I don’t think there is such a list – too many books mentioned here to corral… There have been entire days devoted to, say, kids’ books, maybe other topics…

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    2. mn in sudbury that would be a good job for you. chronicle the books mentioned and make a logical presentation out of it like the rhyme wave or the kitchen congress. you can get help on how to do it. give you something to do in your spare time eh?

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      2. is that a maybe. seriously, we have discussed book lists many time here. take it. or it will continue being discussion forever

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      1. Nah, it helps some to know the basic plot, but you don’t have to have read it cover to cover – and frankly I think having read “The Wide Sargasso Sea” was better prep for “Eyre Affair” as it gave more background to Bertha as a person. But as you get farther into the series, the jokes get funnier if you have read more of “The Canon” (or at least a largish breadth of British Literature).

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      3. Click on my name and that will get you to the Blevins Book Club blog. I post notes after we meet, and when I get it together, post a spot to start discussion ahead of time…(haven’t done that yet this month – doh!). You can always hop in and add to the discussion after I post meeting notes. And if you’re ever in town, join us for a meeting. 🙂
        Shoot me a note at akb at pobox dot com and I’ll add you into the off-blog contact list.

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  12. Morning–

    The first time my son saw ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ he hated the ending. This is a family favorite and he does appreciate the movie now and we have our favorite bits and you know, I haven’t asked him how he feels about the ending lately, but the first time, he was maybe 10 and he was like “What? That’s the ending??”
    (I’m making a presumption here that everyone knows what I’m talking about, yes?)

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    1. Boy, do we ever know – my son and his cousin Vin had entire scenes memorized – I can even do parts of some scenes.

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      1. Speaking of explaining jokes, did you all see the recent segment on the Daily Show where Louis CK explains (among other things) why a fart is funny?

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    2. I don’t think I’ve ever met a guy who cannot quote back vast tracts of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That is one nonsensical movie that I completely do not understand and hence only somewhat enjoy (certainly don’t have the inclination to watch over and over – not that I really do that for any movie).

      My favourite scene: not the African swallow or the clipclopping or the Knights who say Ni or the shrubbery (…all of which puzzle me more than amuse…) but the benedictine monks whacking themselves on the head over and over. I don’t know what that says about me.

      If anyone can explain the movie to me I’d be much obliged.

      I love the Galaxy Song however.

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      1. I haven’t the vaguest how to explain this movie… but I am one of the ones who adore it and can quote bits of it all over the place. I actually purchased a dvd of it a couple of years back and when I made the teenager watch it with me, she thought I was insane.

        The monks whacking themselves is the beginning of one of my favorite bits. “She turned me into a newt”

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    3. I’ve spent too much time in green rooms to NOT have chunks of this memorized. I was prepared for this to be hysterically funny-like you, MN in Sudbury-um, it was slightly less funny than I imagined it to be.

      That said, it is on the list of movies to see with the s&h (who also already knows a number of the gags)-let it not be said I am not exposing him to culture. With the state of school funding as it is, we parents have to do more and more for ourselves, I guess.

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  13. Can you recall a story with a more disappointing ending?

    No.

    But there were a few books that I thought missed the boat: Peace Life a River was, I thought, a fabulous, lyrical novel till I got to the ending. I also could never swallow Louise Erdrich’s ending to The Master Butcher’s Singing Club. I used to love Sue Grafton mysteries till I got to P is for…Peril (?), where it seemed like she skipped over a whole swath of action and just plunked Kinsey in a safe ending.

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  15. Look at stubborn old Kurt Zeller
    An angry tightwad young feller

    He looks like he swallowed a load
    Of stuff from a barnyard abode

    And Amy Koch right beside him
    All hope was looking really slim

    To make this a great State to live
    You must want to work and to give

    The economy is troubling
    Our frustration has been bubbling

    The future would be much brighter
    Were Dayton more of a fighter

    New revenue plans are a farce
    The solution simply won’t parse

    Our schools will borrow more money
    From future kids’ pot of honey

    But I’m on my way back to work
    My duties I don’t wish to shirk

    It’s a good thing I like my job
    I write poems worse than a slob!

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  16. Greetings! Excellent poems Dale, Krista and others — such good fun! I don’t know about disappointing endings — I’m just too easily pleased and not much of a critic. I enjoy endings that surprise me and aren’t overly contrived in TV, movies and books. Disappointments in life are just too numerous right now. I’ve found that what appears to be a disappointing ending is usually a new beginning of something else — which isn’t seen until later in life. So hope springs eternal …

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  17. rub a dub dub dub get out of my tub
    amy koch and kurt zeller yes you
    get out of my tub leave me alone while i scrub
    the smell left in here makes me spew

    your tea party voters and no taxes lapel pin toters
    are going to be the death of all
    you cant borrow from schools and change tobacco fund rules
    say you have answered the peoples call

    you fixed absoutely zero your the tea party hero
    but what did you win anyway
    you pulled a pawlenty and over we benty
    your ethic’s are not stone they’re clay

    you’vee fixed nothing but your wagon next year you’ll be draggin
    your asses out the capitol door
    god bless you good riddance asta lavista amigo
    don’t be surprised when you aint around no more

    the idiot party who says no aint so funny paying blls wit no money
    cause borrowing from schools and lala land saving
    is no basis for platform so please take your fatform
    and watchout for the foundations caving

    we cant go on like this in pawlwnty bliss
    saying we solved all the problems this time
    when we found a way to put off the day
    when we all have to pay for this crime

    koch zeller and palin with bachman all sailin
    to that big rock candy mountain
    where the buzzin of the bees and the cigarette trees
    long with schools provide no tax fountain

    youre found out youre discovered the polls stats have hovered
    and believed you could fix it with one fell swoop
    but now that your here the truth is i fear
    that your ideas are nothing more than cow poop

    go back to the trenches get out your constituent wrenches
    to quote tpaw just tell em youre great
    so if youre not having fun yet you may wanna head for the sunset
    hurry up now before its too late

    this republican remedy leaves my kids as the enemy
    theyre targeted to pay back this lie
    so thanks leaders for showing that political bs is still flowing
    asta la vista goodbye

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