You didn't really expect me to write about buttons did you? Good. Then this could be my shortest ever post (LOL). It's all about the poem this week, but I will just blather on a little to set the scene.
American English uses the word button to refer to a small round metal badge, usually worn on a lapel, (near the button hole, I suppose), and that's the usage I'm blogging about today. I have a treasured collection in my 'man button box' though I rarely wear them anymore. (Well, you don't, do you?)
Some of my buttons denote musical allegiances (Beatles, Jefferson Airplane Loves You, Plummet Airlines, Small Faces); others are socio-political (CND, Don't Blame Me - I Voted Labour, Rock Against Racism); one or two have an amusing shock value (Fuck Often!, Nothing Sucks Like A Vax). My favourite, from student days, is a hairy Gnasher button (as in the Beano comic). It's got moving eyes.
With less than two weeks to go to the US presidential election, metal campaign buttons proclaiming allegiance to Biden or Trump are being stamped, distributed and worn as talismans in their millions. It's a practice that goes right back to the presidential campaign of 1896 when William McKinley's team had them mass-produced to publicise his candidacy. The campaign button is the catalyst for this week's new poem...
...and here it is, bright and shiny (?) from the imaginarium:
Hej!
Hej!
Your aides dished them out like glass beads to Indians.
We wore them as favours on our threadbare coats,
shiny with the promise of a better tomorrow. The price?
Our votes. The cost to you, negligible groats. It's funny
that years down the line we still seem to be paying.
Same coats, vanished hopes, more burden on our backs
because Hej! you had the chance to do good for man,
you know what I'm saying? We gave you our trust
and you plain ripped us off. I keep that rusty tin button
to remind me of the lesson. Your electoral process, well
it's a huge confidence trick and by wearing your colours
we helped delude others. I'll never be that complicit again.
And may you rot in hell, for all your misbegotten wealth.
That's all folks. Thanks for reading, S ;-)
29 comments:
Man button box! Nice one la! (Well done Blackpool too.)
It's not like you to be so cynical. Of course, you know in Oz it's mandatory to turn up for the polls.
Tin badges were once very collectible ... as you say it is from the imaginarium I forgive myself for not knowing who HEJ is, obviously a tin-pot hero. A really good poem, enjoyable to read and fun.
No, not surprised at all. Man button box made me smile though. I liked your poem (had to look up groats). 👍
A timely post my friend. We are all just waiting for Trump's team to spring some last-minute sleaze tactic 'revelation' that will try and dish the dirt on old Joe like they did with HC last time around and put off enough decent people from voting for Biden. The fact we expect it says it all, doncha think?
Nice one Steve. It's an interesting point you make in your poem about complicity. I think it's not so relevant nowadays when everyone is so much more cynical about the whole election process.
I threw out all my badges (ok, buttons) yonks ago. It didn't seem worth keeping them. Do you remember Double Diamond beer? My fave button had the legend DD=K9P on it :)
When we were kids we had a 'button-making' kit, could make them to our own design with metal cases, plastic covering and whatever image or slogan we could devise or cut out sandwiched in-between, pressed into place in the button-maker. For some reason I thought it was witty to make and wear one that read 'Best In Breed'.
I suppose Twitter and Instagram have become e-buttons, taking on that role of publicising and proclaiming a fellow's loyalties to the world,
As you say, people will believe what they want to, regardless; and even reasonably intelligent people can be delusional.
You are highly, enyoyably, intelligent. I haven't been able to write for some time but I am hoping to before the next online event. Thank you for inspiring me. x
Nice one Steve, and a happy reminder of my now bygone badge collection - sorry, I can't call them buttons. Most of them were music related and my favourite - I know you'll approve - was 'Are You Shakespearienced?' I can't remember what happened to them but I suspect I just put them in the recycling bin one day.
Good to know there is no fence-sitting here! Sadly, though, each generation has to learn the lesson for itself. xx
Brilliant! I like angry Steve quite as much as lyrical Steve. 👍
Very good Steve. Let's hope that Biden wins and there aren't riots on the streets. I think Trump supporters have more than a touch of the bully about them.
How about Rosettes? Any tangerine ones in a box somewhere? I've still got a Blues one from the sixties.
The poem works well, the rhythm especially.
A good poem and a timely reminder of how this all works. In the old days candidates would just have bought everyone a drink or paid them a pound for their vote.
I have 'button' buttons aplenty, was never a collector of 'badge' buttons though my brothers were. I really like your latest poetic remonstrance against the corrupt ways of the world and I think we should all be watching the outcome of the US elections with interest.
My favourite buttons are chocolate ones (sorry I couldn't resist). In truth, it's probably my 'kicking squealing gucci little piggy' button (Radiohead).
Interesting blog and a heartfelt poem. Here's hoping the Biden button trumps the other one!
It's the day of judgement. My earnest hope is that Biden scores by such a big margin that Trump has no realistic comeback. To read that Trump is planning rallies even after the polls close tonight is quite scary, that his lawyers will contest the outcome if he loses is even more unsettling. Watch out world.
I love the sentiment and style of your button poem Steve.
The Republican Party has been spending tens of millions of dollars in the last four years in campaigns to sign up more voters particularly in swing states. It looks like they thought they'd bought the election but maybe not!
I really like the poem. It has a sense of a simpler age - thinking 1920s/30s when poor folks really thought a better deal was on offer. Nowadays I get the impression people know it's all bullshit.
Thanks for sharing this Steve, a fine read as always and a great poem. I wonder what happens to the millions of Trump buttons once the Donald concedes he's beaten, as is now looking possible. Maybe people will keep them as souvenirs of four years of madness, maybe as per your poem they'll come to realise he's plain ripped them off with all this illusory MAGA bollocks and they'll throw them in the nation's trashcans.
It looks as though this time the good guys (or at least the not-so-bad guys) have won.
Good blog! I like the sentiment of your poem. My favourite buttons? I had two, wore one on each lapel of my denim jacket: one said Pink, the other Floyd.
Great to hear about favourite buttons et cetera. Terry, I do have some Blackpool FC rosettes, the oldest and best of which, an FA Cup rosette, hangs framed on a living-room wall.
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