Hearsay, Anecdotal Evidence in Our Societal Court: Poems
Andrew Buckner
Requiem Press, 2025
ISBN: 9798313679341
Ebook, 57 ppg.
It's always interesting to come across a collection of poetry with poems reflecting modern times. That’s exactly what I found when reading Hearsay, Anecdotal Evidence in Our Societal Court: Poems by Andrew Buckner. These poems do offer commentary on current political events, but they also reflect on issues we address in our lives as we live in the 21st century.
I appreciated reading the poems about the current political climate. I agreed with all of them, as I do not support our current president or his policies.
I often wonder what future generations living in more civilized times (I hope!) would think about the time we are living in now, when we have a farce of a “president” who instead of leading the country, is terrorizing it, attacking it and trashing it. Not only this, but he is abusing his power as the president to either eliminate evidence of his crimes, exonerate himself of his crimes (not to mention escape imprisonment for his crimes!), and try to convince the country that he should not be held accountable for his crimes because he is the president. As I write these words in my review, he is currently trying to convince us all that there are no Epstein files, and that even if there was, he’s not involved in any of that. Because, you know, he’s the president.
But I wonder, too, how past generations would perceive our world as we live in it now.
I am well aware of MANY people who were critical of the president, such as Reagan, Nixon and Carter. But our contempt for our current president goes beyond his handling of foreign affairs (though we have that too) and his (mis)management of the American military forces.
No, our contempt for the president concerns how he wants to erase the transgender community. How he wants to get rid of every single Mexican AND Mexican-American in this country, here legally and illegally, because he hates Mexico so damn much. He also hates the Black and African-American community, as well as anyone with disabilities, since he’s eliminated DEI. There is more, so much more, here. And that’s for another piece. And as of now, he’s trying to convince everyone that he is innocent of ever committing sex crimes against children.
And all of these things are not going to pass us by without writers writing about it all. Here, in this book, Andrew Buckner writes about it.
And, in fact, he gives readers that glimpse of just how a certain past generation might see the current goings-on in our political sphere, when he writes in the poem “SQUEEZING WATER FROM THE SUN”:
“the screen, rocks before these
cave people,
become another propaganda-
-laden, time trap for the future eyes
more vividly realized
than cave paintings
that reiterate its addictive fictions,
some dressed-up as news and others
as ex-reality show hosts who
conned their way into a second
term in The White House” (page 2)
Just as I read stories from the past which eerily mimic the times we are living in now (maybe those writers thought writing about those terrible times would keep them from being repeated?), I shudder over how history keeps being repeated (hello, concentration camp in Florida!). In the poem “Dostoevsky 2025,” Buckner points this out with these words:
“reading Dostoevsky
i realize
how little has changed
in 150+ years time—
the poor are still treated
as if a lack of opulence
their mere existence is
a crime
and we’re hopelessly being
punished for the same
crimes
by the same
variations of the same
republican cycles of hate—” (page 4)
I also liked the poem “THE RABID FEVER DREAM, REALITY” in that it really captures how reality can be so horrifying. Perhaps this is why parents lie to their kids about good, saintly figures like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny that love them no matter what and will bring good things to them if they behave. But we grow up and turn to different lies – smoking, drugs, alcohol – for an escape from and comfort for the horrors we must contend with in the real world. Horrors which are not going to go away.
My favorite poem out of all of these in the book is this one: “UPON HEARING THAT TRUMP HAS BANNED THE TERM “FELON IN THE WHITE HOUSE””
Why this one? Because it repeats “felon in The White House” many times and it just goes to show that even if Trump tries to ban the term “Felon In the White House” (which is what he is), we are still going to say it and use it!
But these are not just poems critical of the 47th president and his policies; there are poems also talking about life and survival. About just trying to make it through another day in this chaotic world. I enjoyed reading all of them.
Hearsay, Anecdotal Evidence in Our Societal Court is a collection of poems that reflect modern-day struggles and concerns. They speak out against tyranny, capture the ordinary moments of life we so rarely take the time to appreciate, and shine light on important issues. These poems leave readers with much to think about, with various ideas and reflections to show many what they choose not to see.
Five stars.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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