New Book Hails Glory of D.H. Rumsfeld, PoetLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - You might think that he's just Secretary of Defense, but Donald H. Rumsfeld is also a poet even though he doesn't know it.
In fact, says journalist, humorist and verse compiler Hart Seely, the man's poetry has been hidden -- embedded, if you will -- deep inside his numerous press briefings and it took round-the-clock perusals of Pentagon (news - web sites) transcripts to liberate the poems, free the verses.
Seely says there's gold to be mined in Rumsfeld's words as in the poem "The Unknown," which takes pride of place in the just-published book he edited, "Pieces of Intelligence: the Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld" (Free Press):
"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 unknown unknowns
"The ones we don't know we know."
Hehehehe.Take for example this poem on a woman journalist that Seely titled "'Cheating woman" in a section in the tiny 118-page book called "Nine Poems for the Media":
"She said she had a question
"And she asked three
"I asked for an easy one
"And she gave me a tough three."
Seely said he even found a Rumsfeld poem that rhymed, which he titled "Flying, Too":
"Now that is not always true.
"Think of the B fifty-two.
"It's still flying just fine, thank you.
"And so am I ... thank you."