March 17, 2022, 12:22pm
Here at Lit Hub, we believe strongly in the power of poetry. So we were heartened to see all of Twitter come together because of a single poem—or, actually, the mention of a single poem.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Later at the lunch, maybe you might wanna watch, I’m gonna be reading a poem written by Bono about Ukraine, which you might find interesting.” pic.twitter.com/7gQCGblhS3
— The Recount (@therecount) March 17, 2022
“Nancy Pelosi reading a poem by Bono about Ukraine” is a very special kind of cringe word salad, and a number of people credited the announcement as the moment of their radicalization/Republicanization/straight up death. As of now, the poem itself remains a mystery.
To be fair, the lunch in question is a Annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon, so it seems that Pelosi was just trying to save some time by consolidating “concern for the people of Ukraine” with “St. Patrick’s Day spirit.” (And sadly, Ireland has but one one-named poet to its name.)
Still, we’d recommend reading poetry about Ukraine by actual Ukrainian poets.