The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld is an amazing thing. He has mastered the art of ambiguity and of making a slim arsenal of words mean so many things. His words take context to a whole new relevancy and he brings a refreshing artistic sensibility to the Defense Department.
I was very excited when I learned his "interview poems" were being made into songs. My favorites are:
The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
Department of Defense news briefing - Feb. 12, 2002
The Situation
Things will not be necessarily continuous.
The fact that they are something other than perfectly
continuous
Ought not to be characterized as a pause.
There will be some things that people will see.
There will be some things that people won't see.
And life goes on.
Department of Defense news briefing - Oct. 12, 2001
I'm so thrilled. The CD arrived today and not only does it have the operatized poetry of D. Rumsfeld, but it also contains operatic versions of five Lewis Carroll nursery rhymes.
Coming Soon: The voice of Jay P. Fennelly as he reads the poetry of Donald Rumsfeld.
Posted by: cody at June 2, 2004 07:32 PM