New Orts #95

November 9 MMXXV

… if one day a chatbot writes a poem better than Frost or Bishop, it will still be worthless—because it’s only the human intention, the search for meaning and effort to reach others, that give a poem its value. There’s no art without us.
— George Packer, America’s Zombie Democracy, The Atlantic, September 24, 2025

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The feeling I get from encountering a good poem is like turning around on a busy street only to discover I’ve nearly collided with a stranger: the two of us suddenly close in an unexpected and vivifying way.
— Aislinn Hunter, in Why Poetry, her Introduction to Best Canadian Poetry 2025

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For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.

— Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, in an address at Madison Square Garden, New York City, October 31 1936, just days before the election that would give him his second term as president.

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