Judge Sonia Sotomayor: Eight Poems on TwitWall #sotomayor #sonnet

Judge Sonia Sotomayor:
Eight Poems on TwitWall
(June - August 2009)

Fourteen Lines in Soto-Voce (but not in iambic pentameter)

Obama’s chosen nominee is causing a stir:
The first Latina to join our august legal group
Of justices high and supreme. Quotes from her
Speeches are causing a rightwing war whoop!

Regardless of class, of race and root culture
No one can be neutral and always objective in thought
To accuse this wise woman to be biased legal vulture
Is insanity loud voiced that extreme right has wrought.

The battle for votes on that highest of courts
Will stoke conflagrations on polarized sides
With guesses and doubts of what she supports:
Little in her background hints of what coincides.

I’m just feliz, contento and tickled that Sotomayor,
Is so Latin, and echoes and rhymes with Montemayor.


Sonia and the Senators

The vote by Senator Sessions was certain from the start:
His questions and comments were clearly against;
But Orrin Hatch is more puzzling, a conservative apart.
Perhaps party loyalty and desperation has him fenced.

A calm and reasoned defense Sotomayor gave,
As conservative senators cried racism and bias.
The hearings were repetitive, boring and grave:
They grilled her on ethical principles? My ass!

A decision here, a speech there were the points
Insisted on and hammered by Republican few.
A Princeton and Yale graduate: brainy joints.
Smart judge sees through Latina lens, what’s new?

Alito, Scalia, Roberts, all see through white male eyes:
Their bias going unspoken, reason and logic defies.


http://mediamatters.org/research/200907290025

Compassion’s Out of Vogue (Or Is It Sonia’s Shoe Size?)

"I can walk in the shoes of the people affected by court
Actions”. So stated the interviewee to the senators.
Another, recalling discrimination, of immigrant sort,
Promised understanding: defense from biased predators.

The first was Thomas, the second Alito, and both
Were lauded for their compassion and justice slant:
Both to conservative principles pledged their troth.
Sotomayor’s attacked on bias? pure party cant.

It serves hypocritical hacks to stand on principle
When the claimer is their darling and an ally,
But the principle’s attacked without scruple
If claimed by opposer, it’s a tenet gone awry.

Justice without compassion is madness in a jail.
All judges first are humans – no mercy? We all fail.

Sonia Doesn’t Sweat It!

Ensign has more ethics than psalmic David royal.
The King sent Bathsheba’s husband to the front.
Ensign was kinder: got him job from friend loyal.
(Suggests a pimp and john pay-for-sex: being blunt.)

A bunch of holes in Sonia’s judgeship record,
Ensign, now from virtuous spot, does poke.
(This letch and loose-moraled poker can’t afford
To criticize. Poke this, Nevada’s joke!

Sotomayor has record strong in ethics;
Her legal stature is beyond reproach.
Those speeches call for potent anesthetics:
Note Ensign’s half an hour, slimy roach.

Republicans continue with abrasive antics.
Love it: suicidal party tactics.

But Johnny, We Hardly Knew You

Before McCain did seek the seat, I thought,
He wasn’t too extreme in thought and act.
But when the crazies his attention got
He lost all credibility and tact.

In previous campaign for White House prize,
He criticized the party for insane extremes.
His principles were moderate, for this party, wise.
But choice of Palin, courting bias, says reams.

Republicans must keep a base that’s vocal;
A narrow group severe in judging votes.
A female judge not white is for them focal:
You vote for her, the Christian right demotes.

Latinos once befriended John McCain:
But some forget: the party yanks his chain.


But Johnny, We Hardly Knew You

Before McCain did seek the seat, I thought,
He wasn’t too extreme in thought and act.
But when the crazies his attention got
He lost all credibility and tact.

In previous campaign for White House prize,
He criticized the party for insane extremes.
His principles were moderate, for this party, wise.
But choice of Palin, courting bias, says reams.

Republicans must keep a base that’s vocal;
A narrow group severe in judging votes.
A female judge not white is for them focal:
You vote for her, the Christian right demotes.

Latinos once befriended John McCain:
But some forget: the party yanks his chain.


The Long View Lens

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF THIRTEEN INDIGENOUS GRANDMOTHERS
I celebrate our judge Sotomayor,
And praise her view unique of life and law.
Yet deeper justice thoughts are rising for
An experience from which we rarely draw.

A grandmother’s council site I’ve visited
Reminds of wisdom known pre-constitution.
These thirteen native seers have committed
Ancient lore of justice and peace with devotion.

Allied for teaching and healing our Mother Earth
These heads of gray don’t dwell on racist scars.
Ancestral lore guides plea for re-birth
Of earth: for global life raising the bars.

Indigenous grandmas have biased vision.
White men: note wise counsel and decision.

Sonia’s In: We Didn’t Need Them Anyway

Sotomayor’s the judge in court supreme:
The vote was never doubted from the start.
She’s fully qualified, no liberal scheme.
The decision made stalwart Republicans fart.
Even putative Latino friends on the right
(McCain and others concerned about relations
With Hispanics) party line caused fright:
A vote for Sonia would cause complications.
It really is a boon that party politics reigned!
Naïve Latinos voting republican,
Realize that though politeness is feigned,
They don’t really see us as fully American.
Progressive people everywhere, please note:
Republicans are rotten - think when you vote.