Dear Readers, Since this is the first bilingual “limerick,” I have thought to make a special place for it. (The whole, still-growing series may be found at The Limericks, a pdf.) Below, the French version of #57 first, then the English.

Chers lecteurs francophones, Puisque celui-ci est le premier des « limericks », pour lequel j’ai développé aussi une version française, ce lieu spécial a été créé pour lui. Vous allez voir que le petit poème était inspiré par un des débats qui se passent maintenant en France. — William Eaton

Il y un visage qui fait semblant d’être nouveau en France

Pendant que ses pieds reprennent une très vieille danse.

Dans une démocratie elle pouvait avoir

Des pas pour vous suivis par autant pour moi ;

N’eut été du besoin de toujours écraser—et de ses conséquences.

There is a face pretending to be new in France,

But his legs and others’—the economic war dance.

In a democracy it could be

One step for you, one for me;

But no, the rich must wear bigger and bigger pants.

7.11.17

News: Debate begins in France over plans of the recently elected government of Emmanuel Macron (formerly an investment banker and business-friendly Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs) to “liberalize” labor laws. As Danièle Obono, the spokesperson of the more liberal (Left) La France insoumise party, put it on television, there’s nothing new about such plans: for decades the representatives of capital have been trying to dismantle the social contract established in France, as throughout much of Western Europe, in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. The goal remains constant: more for capital, less for everyone else. Mme Obono, who has also been elected to the Assemblée nationale, was speaking (truth to power) on the 19H Ruth Elkrief programme on BFM TV (10 July 2017).

I was reminded, too, as this limerick was coming to me, of Woody Guthrie’s Talking Union song, which touches on the courage, solidarity and hard work that, less than a century ago, first brought working people such treats as weekends and vacations.

For another way of reading the whole limerick collection to date, see the Montaigbakhtinian posts:

• Part I (Pence, Trump, Mueller, Capitalism) covers May 16, 2017 until July 1
• Part II (Injustice, Trump, Illness, Poetry): July 2 to August 12
• Part III (Animals, Capitalism, the News, First Impressions): July 2 to September 3
• Part IV (No nation on Earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals): September 4 to . . . ?