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Early Obama Poem Shows Davis's Hand
The American Thinker ^ | December 29, 2010 | Jack Cashill

Posted on 12/29/2010 6:02:57 AM PST by Scanian

Many thanks to my correspondent, "Mr. Southwest," for surfacing an early and revealing Obama poem that I had heretofore not seen.

The unnamed poem, which I will call "Forgotten," was unearthed for a lengthy March 2008 article in Vanity Fair by the magazine's national editor Todd Purdum. It reads as follows:

I saw an old, forgotten man

On an old, forgotten road.

Staggering and numb under the glare of the

Spotlight. His eyes, so dull and grey,

Slide from right to left, to right,

Looking for his life, misplaced in a

Shallow, muddy gutter long ago.

I am found, instead.

Seeking a hiding place, the night seals us together.

A transient spark lights his face, and in my honor,

He pulls out forgotten dignity from under his flaking coat,

And walks a straight line along the crooked world.

When Purdum mentioned the poem to Obama in 2008, he told Purdum he had no memory of it. (By contrast, I can still recite the poem that won a class contest when I was a freshman in high school.) After Purdum read the poem to Obama, he said, "That's not bad. I wrote that in high school?"

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: frankmdavis; highschool; poetry
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Oh, no, "not bad."

Reminds me of the fake beatnik stuff we used to turn in in Jr. HS to mess with the teachers' minds.

But at least THAT was original.

1 posted on 12/29/2010 6:03:02 AM PST by Scanian
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To: Scanian
You're quite right about the stuff we wrote to mess with our Teacher's mind...

My poem even wound up in the school's annual publication. What a farce. Took me all of five minutes to write. "Ode to a Shoelace"..

2 posted on 12/29/2010 6:09:34 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: Sacajaweau

I went so far as to open a big dictionary and blindly point at words at random until I found a “noun,” a “verb,” “adverb,” etc. Total nonsense by intention.


3 posted on 12/29/2010 6:16:00 AM PST by Scanian
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To: Sacajaweau; Scanian
Don't be so hasty and harsh on yourselves.

I personally think those were flashes of genius that we never pursued.

And so did you .... at the time.


JMHO

4 posted on 12/29/2010 6:16:41 AM PST by knarf (Who's Holi ? - Christ I know, you obviously don't - let me tell you about him - Romans 10:13)
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To: knarf

Naw, I was just being a wise ass. The same sort of thing that used to get me suspended (”bounced” 3 days) about every two weeks.


5 posted on 12/29/2010 6:18:43 AM PST by Scanian
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To: Scanian
"... numb under the glare of the Spotlight. His eyes, so dull and grey, Slide from right to left, to right, Looking for his life, misplaced in a Shallow, muddy gutter long ago"

This part made me picture Obama standing in the spotlight and reading from TOTUS.

6 posted on 12/29/2010 6:19:53 AM PST by Apple Pan Dowdy (... as American as Apple Pie mmm mmm mmm)
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To: Scanian
heh heh heh ... they were fun days ... eh?
7 posted on 12/29/2010 6:22:02 AM PST by knarf (Who's Holi ? - Christ I know, you obviously don't - let me tell you about him - Romans 10:13)
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To: Scanian; Slings and Arrows
His eyes, so dull and grey, Slide from right to left, to right,


8 posted on 12/29/2010 6:24:44 AM PST by Ezekiel (The Obama-nation began with the Inauguration of Desolation.)
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To: Scanian

To hide what little I am worth,
I choose to conceal my record of birth.
I bow to leaders of many land,
giving them the upper hand.
I refuse to hold my hand over my heart,
And try to tear this country apart.
Please don’t think this a bad thing
I only want to rule you as King.

B.H.O.


9 posted on 12/29/2010 6:25:22 AM PST by freebird5850 (When 0bama fails, FREEDOM prevails!)
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To: Apple Pan Dowdy
"This part made me picture Obama standing in the spotlight and reading from TOTUS."

Uh oh ... this is gonna' be fun ...

translating and analyzing something we only think is zero's and looking for that LucyIntheSkywithDiamonds revelation.


But I think you might be right

10 posted on 12/29/2010 6:27:36 AM PST by knarf (Who's Holi ? - Christ I know, you obviously don't - let me tell you about him - Romans 10:13)
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To: Scanian

Not as good as Stalin’s or Pol Pot’s early stuff.


11 posted on 12/29/2010 6:30:09 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim (Pablo lives jubtabulously!)
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To: knarf
I've written hundreds of those little ditties...and put many longer ones to music when I was young....

I still write them...My Latest (A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO) was "Mouse in the House"....about the mouse that was driving my daughter nuts. She finally caught the darn little thing.

12 posted on 12/29/2010 6:51:39 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: Scanian
Reminds me of the fake beatnik stuff we used to turn in in Jr. HS to mess with the teachers' minds.

Liberal English teachers are the easiest to dupe.

13 posted on 12/29/2010 6:57:10 AM PST by IYAS9YAS (Liberalism can be summed up thusly: someone craps their pants and we all have to wear diapers)
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To: Scanian

¨...the seaweed barks at me....¨


14 posted on 12/29/2010 7:12:01 AM PST by onedoug
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To: IYAS9YAS

Maybe that’s what it was but back then they didn’t normally let their politics be known.


15 posted on 12/29/2010 7:12:55 AM PST by Scanian
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To: onedoug

That line really does look like it is from my old random dictionary trick.


16 posted on 12/29/2010 7:14:23 AM PST by Scanian
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To: Scanian

Actually it´s from an old Beverly Hillbillies episode.


17 posted on 12/29/2010 7:22:55 AM PST by onedoug
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To: Scanian
Maybe that’s what it was but back then they didn’t normally let their politics be known.

Most of mine didn't. However, I had two who did. One loved Ralph Nader (Senior year in HS 1986-1987), and the other was the one who gave me a B+ for effort on a crap 20-page paper describing a video game I wanted to market. Grand Theft Auto, which was surprising similar to my video game description, came out during that same semester. Coinkidink, that.

18 posted on 12/29/2010 7:38:51 AM PST by IYAS9YAS (Liberalism can be summed up thusly: someone craps their pants and we all have to wear diapers)
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To: LucyT; Las Vegas Ron; Beckwith; little jeremiah; Red Steel; bushpilot1; onyx; Fred Nerks; ...

Obastard new poem ping


19 posted on 12/29/2010 11:26:08 AM PST by mojitojoe (In itÂ’s 1400 years of existence, Islam has 2 main accomplishments, psychotic violence and goat curr)
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To: Scanian; Las Vegas Ron; LucyT
"He pulls out forgotten dignity from under his flaking coat"

I think this is about Frank, not GrampsPhotobucket

20 posted on 12/29/2010 11:36:30 AM PST by mojitojoe (In itÂ’s 1400 years of existence, Islam has 2 main accomplishments, psychotic violence and goat curr)
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