A MORALIST MOCKS WITH PRAYERS

Poet’s note: The following poem and commentary refers in part to F.R. Agulto’s letter to the Saipan Tribune on Sept. 15, 2016, titled “A prayer for the MV Luta.”

I’ve been reading the writing of nabobs of negativity
self righteous drivel in the local papers day after day
repeating gripes and lecturing readers with ‘their’ reality
dripping with venom for CNMI powers that be today
I have read the BLASPHEMY and arrived at this conclusion
as negations of and accusations of our leaders continues
that the ‘nay’ sayers live in a world of egotistic delusion
backing their insults up with prayers from church pews
separation of powers and separation of church and state
make the United States of America and the CNMI great
basic freedoms, freedom of speech, freedom of press
exist constitutionally without the necessity to moralize
and quote holy prayers verbatim to justify and bless
their ranting and raving insults and current lawsuits
about their objections to others legitimacy and pursuits
let lawyers make presentations, judges listen, courts decide
without making fun of someone’s family and last name
mocking it by using holy prayers shows rottenness inside

Q. Am I (author) a case of the pot calling the kettle black? A. Yes.

I have mocked and poked fun at Donald Trump, using his name, in many sonnets published in this newspaper. I have used children’s nursery rhymes (Trumpty Dumpty, Trumpy Went a Courtin) and various literary allusions and alliteration. I will continue to do so. I have not, however, encased my satire and mimicry in two of the holiest prayers of the Roman Catholic faith, the predominant faith of most citizens in the CNMI. This was a blasphemous joke from the moralist writer’s perspective. He has every right as pointed out in the poem above. How would he like to have that done with someone mocking his families name and place it inside a religious prayer for that matter? He infers by this that he is in a position of moral superiority and sits in judgement somehow on the right hand side of God. What a nice position. I wonder how he got there? Basta adai chatfino’. Enough of the blasphemy.

Another nabob of negativity, who calls the Governor and Lt. Governor, “two eggheads” and 3,000 government employees including the “…superior and supreme courts and municipal governments and their staff” “ gagament employees”, castigated me just about a month ago, (08/19/2016) in the Saipan Tribune. He wrote, “In a vicious contest of survival of the fittest, would you help your competitor knowing it would crush your existence before you blink for the second time”. My initial reaction was, are Saipan, Tinian , and Rota engaged “in a vicious contest of survival”? Is this extreme hyperbole or what? My adopted son, taotao Tinian, US Army veteran, two trips to and injured in Iraq, asked me rhetorically,“Aren’t we a Commonwealth?” The negative nabobs advice calling Lt. Governor Hocog and Senate President Borja’s decision to vote for a casino on Tinian, “political braggadocio and expediency hardly the beneficiary of sober or deliberative discussion. Steer clear of that mindset”. I’ll try to steer clear of any further comments about this negative nabob’s mindset.

Joseph “Pepe Batbon” Connolly is a retired CNMI PSS teacher who taught English on Tinian and Saipan from 1984 to 2014. He currently enjoys studying cosmology, Asian poetry, and life on Tinian.