Political Poetry – bendingtheneedle

“A Lot More Shirley Chisholms” by Sapient Rain

Sapient Rain is a musical project that blends human creativity with artificial intelligence. It is a collaboration between lyricist / writer Geoffrey Reilly and the AI music engine Suno

The song “A Lot More Shirley Chisholms” is about the heartbreaking transformation of America from a country that welcomed and benefited from immigrants to a country led by a xenophobic nationalist who traffics in racial tropes and bigotry.

“A Lot More Shirley Chisholms” is coming to music streaming services on 07/20/2026. You can listen to it for free today on the Suno Website here.

A Lot More Shirley Chisholms

Thoughts Skewed by algorithms
Caught in thought complacency
dumbstruck and stuck in schisms
of moral rot and latency

We’re lost in planes and prisms
we’re distracted by our screens
we need a lot more Shirley Chisholms
in the land of the obscene

A greedy bigot runs the show
we all get painted by his brush
America’s lost that special glow
and the world’s been stunned
into a hush

[Chorus]
We’ve gone from taking huddled masses
yearning to be free
to terrorizing humans
trying to earn their currency
We’ve tamped the lamp of freedom
we closed the golden door
that shining city on the hill
is just a giant Walmart store

We choose a news that won’t refute us
we set up camps, we pick a side
we seek a truth that won’t dispute us
we all refuse to swallow pride

Lady Liberty has vanished
in a MAGA world of hate
She’s a dead idea in bronze and stone
we can’t resuscitate

We’ve become constant politickers
never doubting what we see
walking talking bumper stickers
with no humanity

If you haven’t had a chance yet, please check out my book, My Paper, My Words: Rantings from a Progressive Boomer and Peeved Parent, from Amazon. And if you feel moved to write a review of the book, on Amazon, or anywhere else, I’d be honored.

My Paper, My Words is a collection of essays, stories, and poems that reflect the challenges of a middle-class husband and father trying to navigate a rapidly changing political, religious, and technological landscape of post-911 America.

Hello Murkoswki

Sing to the tune of “Seasons in the Sun” By Terry Jacks

Hello Murkoswki, my old friend

I heard you speak your truth on CNN

about the fear inside your heart

It’s so easy to get played

when bullies know that you’re afraid

Hello Murkowski, my old friend

a fascist train is coming ’round the bend

and our freedom’s on the track

It’s time to take our country back

from that empty orange sack

There’s no joy, there’s no fun
when your nation’s overrun
by a pig and a creep
stealing freedom while you sleep

Hello Murkowski, my dear friend

the words you spoke are something to commend

but there’s a truth that can’t be blurred

We’ve been conned, and we’ve been lured

by the rich and self-assured

The time for words is over now

Let’s worship freedom not an orange cow

It’s our nation on the line

Gather forces and some nerve

to take back what we deserve

There’s no joy, there’s no fun
when your nation’s overrun
by a pig and a creep
stealing freedom while you sleep

Sympathy for the President

Sing to the tune of “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones

Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a man of greed and girth
Been around since 1946
Learned from father that wealth is worth

Remember the Republicans
had their moment before I came
cowered, caved, and complied
and forever changed the game

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
Spreading hatred all ‘round
Is the nature of my game

Stuck around New York City
When I saw it was a time for a change
Called Vlad and his ministers
Melania screamed in vain

I rode that dark
birtherism train
to kill hope and change
on the open range

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Spreading hatred all ‘round
Is the nature of my game, ah yeah

I watched with glee
as the MAGA crowd
beat and tazed their way
to our darkest day

I shouted out
“Who killed democracy?”
when after all
it was you and me

Let me please introduce myself
I’m the god to whom you pray
I laid the trap for Ukrainians
and dashed their hope on election day

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
And spreading hate all ‘round
Is the nature of my game

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
But what’s confounding you
Is just the nature of my game, mm yeah

Just as every pol is a criminal
and all the sinners’ saints
my lies are truth, just call me President
one that’s dipped in orange paint

So, if you meet me, show some courtesy
have some sympathy, and some fear
use all your well-learned politeness
or I’ll make you disappear, mm yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
But what’s confounding’ you
Is the nature of my game