Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WHAT WE WANT FROM MR. TAFT, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WHAT WE WANT FROM MR. TAFT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear mr. Taft, so smiling sweet
Last Line: A grand-stand play.
Subject(s): Presidents, United States; Taft, William Howard (1957-1930)


Dear Mr. Taft, so smiling sweet,
So quiet-kind
And most agreeable to meet,
Say, are you blind?
The country 'd rather have a frown
Breeding dismay;
We want -- and want it done up brown --
A grand-stand play.

Where are your thrillers, flaming fire,
Taunt tournaments,
Such as we properly desire
From Presidents?
This calmness, this judicial air
Is not the way;
Give us the boom, the blast, the blare,
The grand-stand play.

We do not care for balanced phrase
Of bench and bar;
We want the glitter and the blaze
Of wordy war.
We do not seek the level view,
The steady ray;
But all the country wants from you
A grand-stand play.

Come, get a move on, Mr. Taft!
Cut out your desk.
Be noisy, be a little daft,
Be picturesque.
We want to be amused, and thrilled,
And jarred, and gay;
We want, in flaming letters billed,
A grand-stand play.





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