Sarah Palin was a source of found poetry during her Vice Presidential campaign. Now, her farewell speech as she stepped down from the office of Alaska Governor on Sunday has been dubbed a poem by Conan O’Brien and read in Beat fashion, with bass and bongo backup, by William Shatner on the Tonight Show.
The question arises: Where does the poetry come from? Is it in Palin’s writing or Shatner’s reading? As a humorist, O’Brien recognized the natural images, wandering line, moments of obscurity and slightly skewed word usages in Palin’s speech as indicators that “it’s a poem, it was always meant to be a poem.” And Shatner’s hammy, Beatific performance pours her words into an ironic jazz poetry mold that makes it seem as if that was her intent. But who, really, makes this a poem, good or bad? Palin, who wrote the words? O’Brien, who called it a poem? Shatner, who performed it as a poem? Or your Poetry Guide, who transcribed Shatner’s reading with line breaks that make it look like a poem?
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Sara Palin was my muse during last year’s presidential campaign. Below are two song parodies I composed and performed at rallies during the campaign.
Red State Woman
Well I aint never
Been the Barbie doll type
No, I can’t swig “elite” champagne
Just a six pack every night
In a tavern or a honky tonk
Or on a ski plane flight.
I’ve got pictures on my wall
Of Reagan, Bush and Ike.
Democrats look down on me
But I don’t give a rip,
I’ll stand barefoot in the Capitol
With my baby on my hip.
“Cause I’m a Red State woman,
I aint no Ivy League doll,
I’m just a product of my raisin’
Sayin’ “ya betcha” and “hey y’all”,
And I’ll keep the Christmas lights on
In the White House all year long
And I know all the words
To every Gretchen Wilson song.
So here’s to all my sisters out there,
Keepin’ it country,
Let me get a big “Hell Yeah”
From the Red State girls like me.
Hell Yeah! Hell Yeah!
Sak’s Fifth Avenue,
Well their stuff’s real nice,
I used to buy the knockoffs at WalMart’s
For one-twentieth the price
And still look sexy, just as sexy
As those anchors on TV,
But now I need designer tags
Paid by the RNC.
You might think I’m trashy,
My values too hard core,
But in Alaska’s frozen woods
I’m the Governor next door.
Hey, I’m Red State woman,
I aint no Ivy League doll,
I’m terrific at fund raisin’
Shoutin’ ya betcha and hey y’all
I’ll keep my White House lights on
On the front porch all year long
And I know all the words
To every Ol’ Bocephus song.
So here’s to all my sisters out there,
Keepin’ it country,
Let me hear a big “Hell Yeah”
From the Red State girls like me,
Hell Yeah, Hell Yeah!
The Shady Lady of John McCain’s
(To the tune of “The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane)
The Shady Lady of John McCain’s
Has hit USA like a bomb.
The Mainland gossip aint been this good
Since Hillary lost to Obam.
Our campaign was peaceful and quiet
Till she skated onto the scene,
The lady’s created a riot
Disturbin’ the urban machine
The Barracuda from Wasilla
Has USA in a whirl,
The lipstick lady of State Forty-nine,
Me O My O, what a girl!
You should see how she carries on
With her admirers galore,
She swears Obama’s not one of us
And sets the crowds all a-roar.
She throws those come-hither glances
At every Six- packer named Joe,
When offered some liquid refreshment
The lady never never says no.
The pit bull lady from Forty-Nine
Has USA in a whirl
The cheerleading lady from Wasilla
O what batons she can twirl.
Beneath the glasses and hive hairdo,
There lives a mom sweet and pure.
It’s just when she’s out campaigning,
She can’t be nice and demure.
For just one question can change her
And she’ll be mean as can be
If you’re in the neighborhood stranger
Drop in for a minute and see
The naughty lady from Forty-Nine
Her middle name is Louise,
Her running mate’s Sidney McCain,
But he’s not Jewish, if you please.
The things they’re trying to pin on her
Won’t hold cold water I’m sure,
Except for a bipartisan report
From her state legislature,
She’s guilty of using her office
To shaft her sister’s ex-mate,
Conduct more worthy of governors
From one of the lower forty-eight.
The shady lady of John McCain’s,
Brought John in from the cold,
The winking governor of Alaska State,
Hot and sexual, non-intellectual,
And her campaign’s
not even two months old.
I thought the poetic section of her speech was actually rather good and clearly showed her love for Alaska. Alas, she torpedoed her own poetry with a rushed, nasal, ineffective reading. Shatner came closer to doing it justice, although I don’t really get the “Maynard G. Krebs goes to Alaska” bongo vibe….?
Okay, folks. How do we know Sarah Palin wrote that speech/poem? After all, most politicians have writers on the payola-roll. I’d give Sarah P. a ‘D’ for delivery and an ‘F’ for fakin’ it . . . (Not for makin’ stuff up!)
I’m not going to dignify this by even reading the “poem.” The woman (Palin) is barely coherent. To call anything she says “poetic” inspires my gag reflex. You can make anything (grocery list, phone book list of numbers) SOUND poetic by adding your own rhythm. You can make anything LOOK poetic by putting it in stanzas. But it takes a poetic spirit to turn it into poetry. Palin, poetic spirit?? Please!
i really enjoyed shatners reading. of course, it is also the listener as participant in “making” it poetry. i though it was quite poetic, but what do i know.
This part of Palin’s speech:
And getting up here I say it is the best road trip in America soaring through nature’s finest show. Denali, the great one, soaring under the midnight sun. And then the extremes. In the winter time it’s the frozen road that is competing with the view of ice fogged frigid beauty, the cold though, doesn’t it split the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs? And then in the summertime such extreme summertime about a hundred and fifty degrees hotter than just some months ago, than just some months from now, with fireweed blooming along the frost heaves and merciless rivers that are rushing and carving and reminding us that here, Mother Nature wins. It is as throughout all Alaska that big wild good life teeming along the road that is north to the future.
Is clearly poetry. It is Gary Snyder like in it’s imagery. I’ve been trying to find a source for it. If it actually WAS Palin, she’s greatly missed her calling and should continue along this path. Whoever wrote it has a true talent for words and literature (which is why, from her other public comments, I can’t believe that passage is Palin’s own.)
The use of alliteration in “ice fogged frigid beauty” shows a love of language and wordsmithing. Whoever wrote this deserves to be credited. It is good work. Good poetry.