Elective - Edit, title change

[Brownlie]

D. Trump's twitter is far more potent than a Petrarchan sonnet.

I basically hear he will be like Reagan plus a few extra pounds (and he looks like a human Pomeranian hybrid creature).  This sonnet is perhaps too inward focused. Every joy or grief is a personal experience that has less weight than an observation IMO.

Elective



Can any words, my sister, ease your pain -- Is the pain inflicted by Trump that great?
of anger and betrayal at this vote-- Democracy isn't a betrayal. Perhaps it's a shit show, but unless it's flat out rigged betrayal seems inaccurate.
which makes a man whose sins you rightly note
the chief of us? It’s useless to explain.-- Sin implies he should be weighed against some scriptural notion of justice. Seems like the problem is that he may screw up the economy.

Your world-infected sadness will remain
inflamed by image, story, song, and quote;
each day a joke, a smile, will get your goat
until all love for goodness seems in vain. -- Is in vain a cliché?

My sadness echoes yours, though its sole cause
is sympathy.  To neither of our lives
was damage done, we only suffer grief
at others’ self-inflicted hurts.  So pause
and think the world no worse:  your joy revives
with laughter at its foibles, pure relief. -- So your resolution sort of answers some of my problems.

Have slightly less than half a mind to submit this to Serious - meant for other relatives, too, trying to restore their happiness after the US election which has saddened them.  Advice on how to better accomplish that, please, rather than its advisability.

One experienced poetry reader (who is also in the same emotional state, though) objects to the no-damage and self-inflicted thought.  How to explain (without "mansplaining") that hurt feelings, though sincerely felt, still aren't the same as loss of life, liberty, property, or skin?  And all without feeling superior about it?

Here's what I think:

you've written some cool stuff on the website

Petrarchan sonnets can kind of be a crappy form sometimes (at least sort of anachronistic)

There's a dialogue here but no stand out imagery or enough exterior details to provide me with enough meaningful insight

How does a casino owner win evangelical votes? WTF?