Variations on ‘Bush backs Rumsfeld, calls him ‘caring fellow’’
1.
I used a machine to sign condolence letters to military families
whose loved ones died in the war.
I am sorry, but it was a big pile, and I had things to do
and those things were more inviting.2.
We made false prewar assumptions together
and now we’ve got each other’s backs.
Forgive us. We simply do not know what we are doing.3.
I have been ignoring the pleas for more armored vehicles.
The men who asked for them looked kind of shabby
and the stares they give me are so juicy and cold.4.
Last week, Senator Carl Levin said getting rid of me won’t get rid of the problem.
Forgive me. I don’t make the policies and
I want to stay here in Washington, where I am the ‘caring fellow!’Jamie-Lee Josselyn
Jamie-Lee Josselyn is a senior Creative Writing and French major at the University of Pennsylvania and works as Project Assistant to the Faculty Director at the Kelly Writers House. She is originally from Epping, New Hampshire.This poem is based on “Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams” by Kenneth Koch
‘Bush backs Rumsfeld, calls him ‘caring fellow’’ originally appeared on page A16 of the Inquirer on Tuesday, December 21, 2004.