I have notes someplace
from the great intellectual
conservative columnist
William F Buckley, Jr
He signed them all
Cordially
I understand that
this was not just for me
he did that with everybody
It was a more polite time
John Kennedy and
Ronald Reagan made
fun of themselves
Kennedy and Goldwater
planned to travel together
to debate – Reagan and Tip
drank together – McCain
defended Obama’s patriotism
Is there an inverse relationship
between technological progress
and the decline in cordiality?
Is this what we have wrought?
Do Twitter and Facebook mean
that we will never again have
a Lyndon Johnson and an
Everett Dirkson working
together to reach a compromise
for the good of the country?
I wonder if it has
all been worth it
About the Poem
The United States had been polarized more than time in my lifetime, perhaps since the civil war. It was not always that way. We used to be able to keep policy and personaliy separate.
About the Author
John F. McMullen is the Poet Laureate of the Town of Yorktown, NY, an adjunct professor at Westchester Community College, a graduate of Iona College, the holder of two Masters degrees from Marist College, a member of the American Academy of Poets and Poets & Writers, the author of over 2,500 columns and eight collections of poetry, most recently, “My Life In 26 Poems” (2021)), and a contributor to many anthologies. Additionally, he has been the host of a weekly Internet Radio Show (three hundred shows to date) and hosted many ZOOM writers’ meetings throughout the pandemic.