Poetry Place Collected Poems

Where are the Heroes

where are the heroes

During the Watergate era
There were political heroes
Who stood up to Nixon clara
Told him it was time zero


Flash forward to today
When there are no Republicans
Standing up to the greatest con man yeah
The greatest criminal antirepublican


They all have kissed his ass
For fear of riling up his base
And no one is willing to be crass
To be the one to tell him space


The Chastushka is a Russian folk song with a humorous or satirical tone. The poetic structure consists of four lines with seven or eight syllables per line and a rhyme scheme of abba or abca, as described and demonstrated in the following links:

https://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1073-russia-the-bylina-chastushka-vir%C5%...

• The Chastushka (Russian-to speak fast) is a popular folk song that has emerged from the Russian cities and villages of the 1800s. It is folklore that ranged from political slogans to folk poetry sung and danced to. Primarily it reflects the concerns of the young and is usually topical and often impromptu. One source sited this form as the Russian equivalent to the Limerick. The elements of the Chastushka are:
1. most commonly a single quatrain. But it is not uncommon to have a string of Chastushkas performed with a musical refrain after each poem to give the audience time to laugh. Each quatrain is a stand alone poem.
2. metered, trochaic tetrameter. The last foot of the line is often a single stressed syllable rather than a full trochee.
3. rhymed, abab or abcb.
4. usually humorous or satirical and often lewd and vulgar.