In the January/February 2006 issue of The Atlantic, there’s a feature entitled “The Anthem,” in which Garrison Keillor imagines what “The Star-Spangled Banner” might be like had it been written by famous poets. This one is à la Walt Whitman:
Here on the shore of Baltimore observing the barrage of rockets and bombs from the man o’ war,
The gunnery mates stripp’d to the waist and glistening with sweat,
Shouting each to the other and working together in close drill,
Ramming the powder charge and then the enormous projectile,
Each of them a man like myself and possessed of secret longings,
Each of them comely and well-appointed,
Especially the tall one on the left with black curls and taut abdominal muscles,
Who looks so long and lovingly at me, a stranger in big boots,
And I return his gaze–O aficionado, come, take my hand–
Leave your cannonading and we shall travel the open road
Where there are no banners except of affection and the love of dear comrades.
Ha, perfect.
4 replies on “Star-spangled love”
Love it!!
Excellent. I, for one, would love to sing that anthem before sporting events. Well, as long as they ditch that terrible tune and write something that the average person can actually sing — something that doesn’t require and octave-and-a-half range.
It’s definitely an improvement over the original!
Terrific! 🙂