Thomas R. responds to...
Challenge 134
Does Michael Lohr’s “Disposable Culture” have anything in common with Michael Murry’s war poems? (They’re listed in the year end retrospective.)
Michael Murry and Michael Lohr are similar in focusing on current ills. The twenty-first century is viewed darkly. Imperialism and materialism being especially the targets of hostility. Both authors are probably of the political Left, although one or both might be Libertarian.
However, they are fairly different. Mr. Lohr’s poetry has more of a sense of humor, yet I think that allows it to actually be far darker in intent. At first, his work seems to be about the USA’s being inherently crass or harmful. However, by the end it is clearly beyond anti-Americanism, reflecting instead on “the current state of the western world and its three-second soul” or even that civilization itself was a bad move. Whether this is the view of the author or not is unknowable, and the style is slightly sarcastic.
Michael Murry seems to feel something more like disappointment with the USA and its policies. His grievances seem more specific to events and the current administration. An affection for “Country’s man and woman strong” as well as other “regular folk” is in it. It’s sad, but not bleak in the way Lohr’s poetry is. There’s little discussion of the West or Civilization being a bad move itself. It’s more the kind of populist disdain directed at the powerful.
Copyright © 2005 by Thomas R.
