Poems of the Week

Crossing the Bee-Line

by Julia Griffin

(with apologies to Tennyson)

“White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the remark ‘vile and vicious.’ On Wednesday, [Samantha] Bee again said she ‘crossed a line.’ She admitted she used the phrase many times, hoping to ‘reclaim it.’ ‘The problem is, many women have heard that word at the worst moments of their lives,’ Bee said. ‘A lot of them don’t want that word reclaimed, they want it gone. And I don’t blame them. … Many men were also offended by use of the word. I do not care about that.”—CBS News

Censure and brouhaha,
And one clear call for me!
But may there be no moaning from Ms. Barr
If I’m still on TV:

Unless the USA is all asleep,
With no attention span,
You surely won’t compare me with that creep,
Racist Roseanne.

No way. I’ve never blamed
The women who piled on:
A lot of them don’t want that word reclaimed,
They want it gone;

To them I send apologies (not men).
Sorry. Now please don’t whine;
The Pilot’s aired long since—I’m here again.
Who says I’ve crost the line?