Reflections on Failure

Raven Cage has published the  following poems except for the Presidential Failure poem.

https://ravencagezine.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/issue-47/

Failure is not an option
My failures
Presidential failures
Total failure or Total Success
Dejavu All Over Again
General Failure Reading Disk Drives

 

Failure is Not an Option

Failure is not an option
Is a weasel word
Weasel words
Are Orwellian words
Designed to shut down
Rational thought

And ironically these words
Often leads to spectacular failure
Because logically speaking
Failure is always an implied option

and the null hypothesis
doing nothing at all
letting the status quo
remain the same
is also always an implied option

Leaders need to look at all options
Including what to do
If they fail to achieve their goals

They must have a plan
To learn from their failures

If not following the dictates
The false macho posturing
That failure is not an option
Will lead to the feared failure

On Failure

They say that failure
Is the best teacher of all
And I have learned
So much from my failures
And I have failed so much

In my life
But I have gotten better
Stronger and wiser
Because I have failed

And embraced my failures
Failed first grade
Almost failed math and physics
Failed music college

Almost failed statistics in college
and in graduate school

Almost failed my life in the Peace Corps
Dealing with Typhoid
Almost failed in Bangkok

Almost failed my life
In the hospital for almost a year

Almost failed to learn Spanish
Failed as a visa chief in Spain

And throughout my failures
There is one thing I learned

With the support of my wife
And my friends
I can and will overcome
All my failures

President Trump’s Failures

Presidentail failures to date
failure to tell the truth 18,000 lies
Failure to deal with COVID 160 thousand dead

 

 

 

who have become corona ghosts
And 4 million cases piling up
and another great depression looms

And it is all his fault
He refuses to take responsibility
Part of his failure to lead

Failure to lead the country
Insisting on premature re-opening
Making things a thousand times worst

With his epic tweets
Which are a failure
To communicate

Failure to get America rebuilt
Failure to get immigration reform
Failure to reform our trading practices
Failure to lead on climate change
Failure to lead on fighting forest fires
Failure to lead on police reform
failure on health care
Failure to lead on healing out country

As he pours gasoline
On the flames of our discontent

And so I leave these thoughts
Thinking of the greatest failure
Of our life

Watching our president
Fail so miserably
At his job

And unlike me
He refuses to admit
That he has failed

Leading him to an epic
Spectacular failure
Ushering in the end
Of his presidency

In the fading failing light<
Of his life

Will he finally learn
From his failures
Sadly I must conclude

That he is incapable
Of learning from failure

Because in his mind
He is the smartest man
In the world

And it inconceivable
That he could ever failure

For he is a winner
Are we all tired
Of his failed winning by now?

And sadly I must
give him a grade of F

total Success or Total Failure

 

 

 

The President’s Son-in-law declares
that the government’s response
to the corona virus

has been a total success
as the government
stepped up to the plate
to fight the virus from hell

I have to wonder
on what planet
does the words
total failure
becomes total success?

Are we living in a bizarro world
Where every thing
Means the opposite

Do words no longer
Have any connection
To underlying reality

Can we tell a lie
From the truth anymore?

For his statement
Is impossible to be
Anything other than the opposite

His total success
is everyone’s total failure

As 160 thousands
American Corona ghosts
Will attest

just more verbal diarrhea
from our dear leader
And his cult like followers
And corrupt court jesters

Dejavu All Over Again

 

Looking at the news
As the virus spreads
Out of control

 

 

 

With no end in sight
Back in April
Hospitals begged for relief

From a lack of PPD
And equipment etc

And for a few weeks
It seemed we were fine

But we failed to prepare
For the continuation of the pandemic

And our stockpile has been overwhelmed
Our hospitals are overwhelmed

And it could have been prevented
If our leaders had kept up

Stockpiling for the inevitable second wave
Even as the first wave has yet
To reach its peak

Their epic failure
To plan
For what was sure to come

Is an epic failure
Of deadly consequences

Hundreds of thousands of people
will join the ranks
of corona ghosts

they Will fail to live
Because of this failure
To plan

So I say
It is all dejavu all over again

General Failure Reading Disk Drive

 

 

 

 

 

 

My computer loves
Spitting out error messages
Written like haiku

Mysterious messages
Hard to understand

My favorite has always been
General Failure
Reading Disk drive

The question comes to mind
Who is this General Failure
And why is reading my disk drive
Anyway

the End