Hmm. Yeah, I just reread Switching to Deer Time and I really liked it this time around, though I wonder because I know I've read it before and yet I remembered none of it. Maybe I just wasn't open to it at the time, preoccupied by something else. Sometimes reading can be like flossing for me, as in, sometimes I read something it passes through my brain and takes something with it, kind of the opposite of what I expect reading to do.

I don't like political poems for a lot of reasons, though I have experimented with writing them in the past. In general, I don't think that poems should be used to espouse philosophies, political or otherwise because that uses poetry as a vehicle for something that is likely better stated in prose. For me, poetry is the vehicle and the driver.

Political poems rely on a carryover of emotion from whatever issue evoked the reaction in the first place. It feels like cheating. You're right about the timeliness too. I know a guy who used to write political poems and often about political landmarks from history. I could not handle poems that were both historical and political. In any event, he writes about politics and financial stuff now and I think that's a better fit. He's a pal, but man oh man.