Book Review: ‘The President Of War’ Book Of Poetry Earns ‘Must Read’ Status

It is said that the winners of war write history. Not so for President George W. Bush since his so-called “war on terror” was an epic failure.

Such was the theme of Elizabeth Gerteiny’s book of verse “The President of War, and the Cowards, Villians, and Fools Behind Him: An Unfolding Record of the George W. Bush Administration 2001-2009 In Verse.”

Indeed, in 170 pages, the Connecticut poet painstakingly recounts eight long years’ worth of events that most frustrated her with regard to the Republican president’s decade in the White House.

Each individual poem is relatively short and exhibits simple rhyme schemes and styles, which call to mind “drinking songs” sung in pubs of a 18th-century America in revolution.

Take, for example, the refrain from her “Tony, Tony, What a Phoney” poem about White House spokesperson Tony Snow: “Tony, Tony, What a phoney / All you spout is pure baloney.”

Certainly, this stylistic resemblance, as well as to that of a Beastie Boys’ hip-hop rhyme, is a mere coinicidence; Gerteiny’s intention seems more sobering, though the anger remains congruent.

Preceding each poem tends to a rather lengthy introduction, explaining the context in which the verse flows by date of the event. For the eight lines of verse in “So Many Documents Lie Hidden,” Gerteiny set aside seven paragraphs of exposition about Daniel Ellsberg (the publisher of the Pentagon Papers) and his fear that Bush would launch an attack on Iran when the president left office.

Gerteiny’s success lies in distilling the anger most Americans citizens feel toward the ex-president; its top failure is not capturing each and every event, though to do so would certainly wreck the writer and clutter the volume.

Besides, it is indeed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that Bush will be remembered in the end, not necessarily Bush’s push for the United Arab Emirates to operate a U.S. port or his attempt at privatizing Social Security.

But this is not to say that Gerteiny has no fun nor lack of attention to details, such as when she incorporates Bush’s use of nicknames such as “Pooty Putin” to describe the (supposedly) former leader of Russia.

It should also be noted that in the afterward, Gerteiny saves a special drop of venom (or is it acceptance?) for political pundits’ work:

“Always undaunted; so it goes; / The only thing that’s sure / Is pundits and politicos / Together will endure.”

The President of War, and the Cowards, Villians, and Fools behind Him: An Unfolding Record of the George W. Bush Administration 2001-2009 In Verse

Poems By Elizabeth Gerteiny

170pp

List price: $19.99

ISBN13 Hardcover 978-1-4415-2471-3

ISBN13 Softcover 978-1-4415-2470-6

Published by Xlibris

Call 888-795-795-4274 ex. 7876

Order online at www.xlibris.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com.