{"id":14821,"date":"2023-01-03T12:04:18","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T12:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=14821"},"modified":"2023-01-03T12:04:18","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T12:04:18","slug":"poem-congratulations-by-kevin-higgins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2023\/01\/03\/poem-congratulations-by-kevin-higgins\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem: ‘Congratulations’ by Kevin Higgins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poets may be divided into three types: those of us who must be and are, or have been, suppressed, at least until after we are dead; those whose subject matter is so commonplace\/banal that it doesn’t matter either way; and then those who become pure decorations of the Regime.<\/span><\/p>\n

One key qualification for a poet becoming a pseudo-poetic decoration for the Regime \u2013 a quality much on display this week \u2013 is to know when not to say that a terrible, long poem taking one side in a war in a most crude and unthinking way<\/a><\/span>, is exactly as terrible as it is because he\/she hopes to be published in the future (or again) in the same venue, suspecting, probably correctly, he\/she would be less likely to achieve such publication if he\/she doesn\u2019t keep his or her beak strategically shut on such occasions.<\/p>\n

Indeed, indiscreet beak-opening might make an invitation to participate in an upscale literary cabaret or two less likely. This is what it has come down to.<\/p>\n

As I sit\/lie on what might turn out to be my death bed \u2013 I am doing everything I can to survive and haven’t at all given up hope but really have no idea if I’ll be here this time next year \u2013 I find myself laughing at the Irish poetry world.<\/p>\n

The phenomenon is not unique to contemporary Ireland, though its Irish branch has particular characteristics, usually involving a special relationship with NATO and the sacred 12.5% corporate tax rate. But such tendencies are spreading like an international fungus. Every part of the English-speaking world has a local variant of concern.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Congratulations
\n<\/strong>after Zbigniew Herbert<\/em><\/p>\n

A few will be obliterated
\nbut in an nice way.
\nWe don\u2019t like the word censorship,
\nabolished it yonks ago.
\nCertain word combinations must be
\nnudged to the bottom of the basket
\nuntil after we\u2019ve all safely
\nchoked to death in our dressing gowns.
\nThough, worryingly,
\nthey always find their way back out again.<\/p>\n

Others, we can leave optional.
\nYou know the drift:
\nthe suffering of academics, their divorces
\nafter the regrettable entanglement with the student;
\nhow it felt to phone the crematorium
\nto book a spot for their ninety five year old father.<\/p>\n

But for having so successfully helped it
\ndeny its own existence
\nthe regime has made you
\ncompulsory.<\/p>\n

Your personage will be strapped
\ninto an airplane seat, exported
\nto Asia and beyond,
\nlike a Bangladeshi made t-shirt in reverse.<\/p>\n

Your metaphors and similes will be at the service
\nof the International Happiness Corporation \u2013
\nDiversity Department \u2013
\ncurrently headquartering here for tax purposes.
\nYou will walk through all the right doors
\nsecretly wearing their logo.<\/p>\n

Life will be mostly festivals
\nof enforced grinning,
\nduring which you\u2019ll pass the hours
\ncounting each others\u2019 teeth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poets may be divided into three types: those of us who must be and are, or have been, suppressed, at least until after we are dead; those whose subject matter is so commonplace\/banal that it doesn’t matter either way; and then those who become pure decorations of the Regime. One key qualification for a poet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":14822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[95,1869,1870,4087,5184,5187,5195,5204,5214,5222,5223,7320,7341,10280],"class_list":["post-14821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-congratulations","tag-congratulations-after-zbigniew-herbert","tag-congratulations-by-kevin-higgins","tag-higgins","tag-kevin","tag-kevin-higgins","tag-kevin-higgins-congratulations","tag-kevin-higgins-irish-poets","tag-kevin-higgins-paul-muldoon","tag-kevin-higgins-radical-poet","tag-kevin-higgins-satire","tag-poem","tag-poetry","tag-zbigniew-herbert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}