Aunt Sally
AUNT SALLY
From letters to Aunt Sally:
…..Dear Uncle Sammy
I’d just like to say I’m just a friendly little dwarf
And what I believe
Well this as I’m convinced
Is the situation and problem
I try to keep quiet
I stand on ceremony as restrained
Over the walnuts and the wine
I stand in livery
…..(and I’ve been to college too)
……….as constrained
Only barely in my mind
From smashing vases to make a noise
Or standing on my head
Or someone else’s
…..(So much for love!)
And I mouth something
Careful virgins risk a smile
And it’s no use asking what ever happened to their sisters
…..The surly walls are looming
……….staring
…..The telephone keeps on screaming
…..And I’m tired of Thursdays
But I suffer from only headaches
And a strong desire to ask questions
…..Or sleep
While I just look grieved
…..Or smile
Unconvincingly
…..The surly walls are looming
……….staring
…..The telephone keeps on screaming
…..And I’m tired of Thursdays
“Please don’t look so grieved”
“Please don’t look so grieved”
“Please don’t look so grieved”
Can you help at all?
——————————————————————
The term “Aunt Sally” is sometimes used in Great Britain as a colloquial political idiom, indicating a false adversary or straw man set up purely for attracting negative attention and wasting an opponent’s energy. The technique is sometimes used during planning applications when the applicant needs to show they exhausted all other options and need to create false alternatives that are easily identified as unsuitable.
Posted on February 17, 2012, in Poetry, Writing and tagged College, Disaffection, Grieved, Madness, Paranoia, Social commentary, Surrealism. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
Ben Naga 
Very creative! Thanks for the definition on Aunt Sally — never would have known. Great stuff!
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Probably the key to the whole poem. We know something is terribly wrong with the way we are living and the way we are going, but somehow don’t seem to be able to identify exactly what it is or how to combat or fix it. There are plenty of targets, but somehow they end up revealing themselves as simply distractions and just another piece of the jigsaw. This seems equally true at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, national and global levels.
Otherwise, everything is fine. Do have another chocolate.
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Thanks for the Aunt Sally explanation – with that in mind, the poem is a powerful, and unfortunately accurate, reading of what’s going on in every corner of the world these days. Now I’m going to go back and read it again, and maybe again!
(and funny, I just did have another chocolate before reading your comment to Zumpoems 🙂 ).
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Hmmm … 😛
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What’s funny, or perhaps horrible was that I didn’t look at it any other way than on a personal level. Perhaps it is because I have not watched the news in any shape of form since the end of 2009. There was a time I went a year and a half with zero television. It was lovely.
Loved this poem nonetheless. I was able to look inside myself with it and found it very thought provoking. ♥
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When I live alone I never have a TV. My wife likes us to have one, although we are very picky about what we choose to watch.
When I first wrote this piece (it has been amended a couple of times) I was stuck inside an “educational” system stuck inside a criminally insane “society” and my understanding of and intent with the poem was highly coloured by that. At a distance I see so much more in it these days.
I am glad it is still working anyway, and that it spoke to you.I will admit that it nearly ended up in the bin a couple of times over the years. (Hence the rewrites.) These days I almost like it. 😛 Our relationship continues to evolve, whereas with much of what I write it’s quite clear cut and unchanging.
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