Poetry / Political Guest Speaker

Second stanza is great, not only because it is expressed well but because it’s a truth we seldom think about, if ever.

The first stanza, on the other hand, seems to be fishing for inspiration, with its most evident aspect being the long empty pauses between phrases, like a speaker who doesn’t know what to say, “Uh, and uh.”  When the phrases are all connected without the empty spaces, it’s all revealed to be very lackluster.

But, if that’s what you needed to come up with that pearl, it certainly was worth it.  For that reason, I’d prefer this poem as an aphorism with just the second stanza.  People will learn it by heart, and you will be quoted all over the place.

The two stanzas don’t really fit together.  I love the second one, but I’m not so crazy about the first.   I think a comma can work just as well in the dash’s place in the second stanza, and the second dash in the first stanza.  The first two lines of the poem don’t really make much sense.  I think the first stanza, if you keep it, needs to be redone, but it doesn’t really go with the second.  

I like the way this starts.  The three words set the mood and the tone.  ”Lecturer – polite, podium” These three words grab the readers attention very quickly and demand focus.  
I think the piece could be stronger if the second stanza follows the same form. “Our mistake- assuming…” This subtle change provides a distinction between the ‘us and them’ eluded to in the words and leaves the reader with a firmer understanding of the piece. The strength of this piece lies in the magnitude of meaning captured in very few words. Very nice.  

Someone has finally got an original thought. The ears do most of the lying, that’s nice one. I’ll remeber that. A great statement on how our own perception biases everthing.

i like this
i hope it’s a work in progress
but the thought that we hear what we want to and lie to ourselves is so true yet so often overlooked
i would love to read more of this if you extend it

I think I get the point.  If the assumption is that people always misinterpret and it was not the speaker himself lying, I think there should be some indication that the speaker of the poem thought that the guest speaker was lying.

I like that you painted a picture of this event very clearly with few words. That is a good talent. The flow of the poem works well. Lips, alone, can lie—
When it’s the ears That do the worst of it Almost every time. I really liked this line here. Good job.

Very nice.  To the point, understated, yet very clear.  I really liked how the first stanza was somewhat fragmented and engaged the reader to fill in any spaces with his own thoughts and experience.  Because I liked it so much, I’m wondering if you could arrange the 2nd stanza the same way.  Because the format of it is a full sentence, it’s just a touch too on the nose.  Maybe if you retain the minimum amount of words to make the point then I would feel more involved.  I think the title works well.  Good job.

I like the notion suggested in the poem. What i would suggest is somehow illustrating it within the poem. Just making the point makes it a good point, not a good poem. I can’t think of anything off-hand, but you should find some image that can show the problem in miscommunication.

small things: “Our” should be turned into “The.” I think it makes the sentiment more universal. In the same vein, i would change “was” to “is” for the same reason. Also, the rest of the poem is in present tense; “was” is the only exception.

The first stanza seems a little disjointed. There are words, but no connection between them. Or it is at least unclear. If you intend to use a list to establish the image, consider how they sound next to each other. “polite, podium/speaker sets” do sound nice, but im confused as to what they mean. The words “sets” and “in” confuse the meaning altogether.

i would consider another word choice for “questioning.” don’t ask me why.

great idea that can be extended into something much better. keep writing.

The first stanza seems really dry, but is a great setup for the second stanza.  The concept of the speaker’s ears telling him/her what he/she wants to hear is great.