A Poem That Makes Me Think of the 20th Century

For most of last year whenever I heard the phrase ‘Make America Great Again’ I thought of this poem. It isn’t a political poem, for me it just evokes the mixed bag the 20th century was. It seems like all I hear or see is unfettered optimism or profound despair in the last few years. I try not to feel either too strongly when they start to set in. They don’t seem like the truth if I just wait a moment and think. Having romantic nostalgia for the past is just as dangerous as is viewing it in the darkest of terms.

Read “Something For The Touts, The Nuns, The Grocery Clerks, And You . . .” by Charles Bukowski on Genius