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Donald Rumsfeld's a poet, but he doesn't know it

Sunday, June 15, 2003

By Bob Hoover, Post-Gazette Books Editor

Beneath the steely intimidating swagger of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is the soul of a poet, or so believes humorist Hart Seely.

His collection of Rumsfeld poetics, compiled from news conferences and interviews, tells all we need to know of those in command, such as:

"Needless to Say"
Needless to say,
The president is correct.
Whatever it was he said.

As for consensus building in Washington:

	"Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld" Compiled and edited by Hart Seely Free Press ($12.95)

"Unanimity"
Now,
Is there unanimity?
No.
Did anyone ever expect unanimity?
No.
Life isn't like that.

More intimately, a commentary on relationships after Sept. 11:

"Man and Wife, Talking at Dawn"
My wife Joyce is here.
Every once in awhile
In the morning
As I get up about5 o'clock
And get ready to takea shower
And head for the office,
She says, "Don, where is he?"
I tell her that
If I want to bring up
Osama bin Laden
I'll wake her up
And bring it up myself.

And as for understanding our newly liberated friends:

"Central Question"
It's awfully hard to know
In fact, it's impossible to know,
Unless one just speculates.
I don't know how many people
Who live in an exceedingly repressive regime
Actually like it.