Poet paddles pols after they fail to pass budget

April is National Poetry Month. It's also the month in which many state legislatures are supposed to complete their business. In Kentucky, for the third time in five biennial-budget sessions, the legislature adjourned without passing a state budget, forcing a special legislative session and a possible shutdown of non-essential services when the new biennium begins July 1.

The debacle moved Constance Alexander, a poet-playwright who writes a column for the Murray Ledger and Times, to put the situtation in rhyme, using as a template Ernest Lawrence Thayer's "Casey at the Bat." Here are some excerpts:

The outlook isn't brilliant for the Bluegrass State today.
Tomorrow's not much better and the landscape's gloomy gray.
No budget passed in Frankfort after sixty days in session.
The void in leadership is vast enough to cause depression. . . .

Slots at Churchill Downs were nixed but sexting's still okay.
The legislative logic makes no sense, it's déclassé. . . .

Kentucky cannot move ahead by mortgaging tomorrow,
Yet sleight of hand in budgets past have led to current sorrows.

For the full poem, click here.