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