Herb Kauderer & Alan Katerinsky - One Poem

Verbal Masturbation

in the age of talk media

exercising freedom of speech

no matter how stupid

is considered a moral imperative

hate and ignorance

are deemed justified

by the need of the individual

to express what they feel

with no responsibility

for new feelings created

in the next caller

and no awareness

that their own buttons

have been pushed

 

 

 

Herb Kauderer is an associate professor of English at Hilbert College in Hamburg, NY. He holds an M.F.A. from Goddard College in Vermont.

 

Alan Katerinsky is an assistant professor of computer security and information assurance at Hilbert College, and repeatedly a graduate of the University at Buffalo.