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john-f-mccullaghPoems
On this cold November night Salman Rushdie shook my hand. An irate Ayatollah had pronounced a fatwa on the man He seemed at peace, this hirsute fellow. in his bespoke suit from Savile Row. He signed some copies of his book then his security man said he must go.. The lecture hall had been half full. Perhaps some had been scared away. I had come to hear him speak. Freedom of speech must rule the day. Outside  Colden in the dark an amphitheater is tucked away A stage sunk in a bowl of grass where Greek tragedies  might be played. Which tradition shall prevail? I wondered to myself that day. Will acolytes of a murderous cult Sweep Euripides away? A Moslem horde  poured through the gates when Rome fell  for the second time. The Divine Wisdom was defiled and Constantine Palaeologus died. I turn my collar against the damp illumined by sodium vapor light I think on Arnold's loss of faith and ignorant armies that struggle in the night
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Jun 4, 2017
Jun 4, 2017 at 5:05 PM UTC
Rushdie at Queens College (11/07/2006)
On this cold November night Salman Rushdie shook my hand. An irate Ayatollah had pronounced a fatwa on the man He seemed at peace, this hirsute fellow. in his bespoke suit from Savile Row. He signed some copies of his book then his security man said he must go.. The lecture hall had been half full. Perhaps some had been scared away. I had come to hear him speak. Freedom of speech must rule the day. Outside  Colden in the dark an amphitheater is tucked away A stage sunk in a bowl of grass where Greek tragedies  might be played. Which tradition shall prevail? I wondered to myself that day. Will acolytes of a murderous cult Sweep Euripides away? A Moslem horde  poured through the gates when Rome fell  for the second time. The Divine Wisdom was defiled and Constantine Palaeologus died. I turn my collar against the damp illumined by sodium vapor light I think on Arnold's loss of faith and ignorant armies that struggle in the night
Salman Rushdie visited my Alma Mater on 11/07/2006.. Colden refers to Colden Auditorium on the campus of Queens college Divine Wisdom = Hagia Sophia Constantine Xi Paleologus + last Byzantine emperor Arnold= Matthew Arnold, specifically his Dover Beach
john-f-mccullagh
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john-f-mccullagh
63/M/American
Jun 4, 2017
Jun 4, 2017 at 5:05 PM UTC
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