cartoon by Heppner Blackman, 1907‘Anthony Comstock: An Extended Dactylic’ by Joseph S. Salemi The Society February 25, 2024 Culture, Poetry 38 Comments . Anthony Comstock: An Extended Dactylic Higgledy, piggledy, Anthony Comstock, the Toughest enforcer of morals to date, Couldn’t stand looking at nude female pulchritude Due to his stern puritanical hate. Tony sent dozens of persons to prison for Publishing sketches of breasts and behinds— Claimed that all nudity ought not be public, but Hidden in bedrooms with curtains and blinds. Stupid buffoons in the Federal bureaucracy Made him a Postal Inspector by law. He had the right to arrest and then prosecute Anyone whom he could not overawe. He was responsible for the destruction of Four million pictures and mountains of books, One quarter million of publishers’ printing plates, Anything else with erogenous looks. Comstock would boast how his anti-vice impetus Terrified writers and artists galore— Fifteen poor persons were driven to suicide; Thousands were cowed by his threatening roar. He believed moral propriety’s rectitude Overwhelmed any creative concerns— He didn’t care about art or good literature, Not unless covered with fig leaves and ferns. Is the guy’s spirit alive in the present day? Sure—he’s still strolling and making his rounds. Look at the anti-sex preaching of feminists: Males and their hormones are now out of bounds. . Poet’s Note Anthony Comstock (1844-1915), a native of Connecticut, was the Secretary of The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, and an official Postal Inspector for the U.S. mails. He carried on an intense and indefatigable campaign from 1873 to 1907 to harass, sue, prosecute, arrest, and imprison anyone who dared to publish or mail anything that he considered “immoral” or “obscene.” His only interest in art and literature was to police them and ferret out whatever his strict New England Puritan mentality deemed salacious or morally detrimental. The word “comstockery” was coined to describe his habits and prejudices. Comstockery is alive and well today in the fanatical segments of the feminist movement that are anti-pornography, anti-prostitution, anti-male, and anti-sex in general. Activists such as Andrea Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon, Robin Morgan, and others have labored with the same zeal of Anthony Comstock to suppress by legislation precisely what he suppressed, but now in the name of “fighting patriarchy, heteronormativity, and cisgender supremacy.” Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. . . Joseph S. Salemi has published five books of poetry, and his poems, translations and scholarly articles have appeared in over one hundred publications world-wide. He is the editor of the literary magazine TRINACRIA and writes for Expansive Poetry On-line. He teaches in the Department of Humanities at New York University and in the Department of Classical Languages at Hunter College. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Trending now: 38 Responses C.B. Anderson February 25, 2024 In the past, Joseph, you have ocasionally mistaken anapests for dactyls, but no one will mistake your dactyls for anything else. Frankly, I had never heard of Comstock, partly, I’m sure, because he is now water under the bridge. What we might have here is one of the few good reasons we should ever be glad of liberal Supreme Courts. Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 25, 2024 Well Kip, if we had a left-liberal Supreme Court today, I’m sure they would dig up spurious reasons why heterosexual pornography should be banned (all other types would be OK). Consider the new left-liberal orthodoxy on prostitution: women who sell their bodies should NEVER be prosecuted, while their male customers MUST be prosecuted. Is there anything crazier or less logical? And yet quite a few stupid countries have established this in law. Reply C.B. Anderson February 25, 2024 Indeed, Joseph. I recall reading a poem by Derek Burgoyne in which exactly that situation in Sweden was discussed. But who says that anything should make sense? Russel Winick February 25, 2024 Great poem on an interesting subject, whom I also had never heard of. Thanks for sharing this. Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 25, 2024 I’m glad you liked it, Russel. There are a couple of good biographies of Comstock. He was a pure product of backwater New England Puritanism. He actually wanted to censor reproductions of classic Renaissance nudes. Reply Paul Freeman February 25, 2024 There was a Renaissance nude furore recently over the statue of David being shown to students in Florida. Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 There are dumb philistines everywhere, Paul. But they are especially prominent and powerful today among left-liberals and academics. Nice try. Paul A. Freeman February 26, 2024 A solid example beats an amorphous label. You moan about lefties, liberals, blah, blah, blah, when evangelical nutjobs are in the same cancelling, censorship boat. The truth is there’s intolerance across the board. Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 Well, at least you admit that the left is intolerant. That’s some progress. Comstock was a buffoon, and even in his own day he was laughed at and ridiculed for his silliness. But where today on the left is anyone going after the anti-pornography, anti-prostitution, anti-male, and anti-sex feminists? Where are there left-liberal poets attacking idiots like Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon? When will any of you speak out publicly about the absurd prostitution laws that prosecute male clients, but not the whores who solicit them? Yael February 25, 2024 Apart from the interesting historical story, the poem is great and I like it a lot, thank you. I had never heard of this character before either. Where there is domination, intimidation, manipulation, or any combination thereof taking place, one can be certain that demonic oppression from the spiritually wicked principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world is being manifested. Some of the highest towers of the wicked powers hide behind a well constructed facade of strict religiosity. Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 25, 2024 Thank you, Yael. It’s interesting that the great psychologist C.G. Jung, an agnostic, made the same point you have just made. Jung said his long experience as a practicing psychologist had convinced him that the most evil and destructive thing on earth was the human desire to exercise control and domination over other human beings. Reply Phil S. Rogers February 25, 2024 An excellent and interesting poem. I admit I had no knowledge of Comstock, and had never heard the word, comstockery. Never to old to learn something new. Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 Thank you, Phil. I believe the word “comstockery” was invented by G.B. Shaw, after Comstock tried to prosecute him for his play “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” Comstock couldn’t bear to hear even the slightest allusion to sex, whether the allusion was public or private. Reply Cynthia Erlandson February 25, 2024 I, also, had not heard of this character before; but it seems that the strong rhythm of the dactylic meter is part of the poem’s description of him, and a good way to present the story. Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 Thank you, Cynthia. One thing about dactylic meter — it has to be excruciatingly exact, or it loses its comic appeal. I feel the same way about limericks. A limerick with an off-rhyme or a missing syllable is like a fly in the buttermilk. Reply Warren Bonham February 26, 2024 I learned some interesting and relevant history as well as a new poetic form. Thanks as always but I’m not sure about the expression “fly in the buttermilk”. Buttermilk is a vile product even without the addition of any external impurities. Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 Well, you could also say “Fly in the ointment,” I suppose. Reply Brian A. Yapko February 26, 2024 Joe, this is a splendidly funny yet sober lesson in history. I am also one of your readers who has never heard of Anthony Comstock – but I certainly know the type. Not only squeamish and prudish but thoroughly controlling concerning the behavior and tastes of others. That this man did his censoring during the period when organizations were also lobbying for the criminalizing of alcoholic beverages is probably no coincidence. The late 19th Century and early 20th Century seems to have been a time when social engineering stood front and center as a way of addressing societal ills. You make an interesting point about the existence of sexual prudery and hypocrisy among modern feminists and, perhaps, others as well. But I believe that we are in fact talking about social engineering which goes well beyond sexual content: what do woke lefties do OTHER than social engineering? They inject race, transgenderism and other forms of identity politics where they simply do not belong and because it pleases them to treat all of humanity as their pet science experiment. Is Mr. Comstock not simply an early example of this type of DEI gestapo? Only in his time it’s limited to sexual mores. Nonetheless, same rotten impulse. And it’s as unsavory as it is tyrannical. Back on the issue of sexual prudery, in my experience leftists are in many ways the opposite of prudes and could use a little encouragement towards sexual morality. The movement (albeit fringe) to legalize the marriages of polyamorous “thruples” for instance. I’m aware of many who believe the sex industry should be legalized completely (a la Amsterdam) and it is now possible to have a viable political career despite being a former pornographic actor/actress. But Comstock is not the solution to such a breakdown in decency. The suicides he inspired, the enormous destruction of art – these are the fruits of an attempt to control society in a way that is destructive. How do we establish and maintain order – but not too MUCH order? I can no longer remember what a healthy society looks like. Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 Brian, let me mention first that, if anyone is interested, there is an excellent biography of Comstock by Heywood Broun, published in 1927. It’s called “Anthony Comstock: Roundsman of the Lord.” In fact, the title gave me the inspiration for the second line of the last quatrain in my poem. You bring up some very important points. Yes, Comstock was one facet of the Progressivist movement of his time. His conservative scrupulosity was not necessarily in tune with other aspects of Progressivism like eugenics, birth control, slum clearance, anti-machine politics, trust-busting, and pure-food-and-drug enactments. But it was certainly in tune with the prohibitionist mania, the anti-prostitution campaigns, feminist-suffragist agitation, and the insufferable movement to encourage “moral uplift” that H.L. Mencken derided. This Progressivism was fiercely political and activist, and is a mirror image of the left-liberal fanaticism of today. And you quite correct — the shared linchpin in all of this activity is the left-liberal impulse to impose social engineering on everyone, whether they want it or not. The massive anti-alcohol campaign began much earlier in the 1830s, but by the early twentieth century it had taken on a strongly anti-Catholic aura. Progressivist rage was not just against drinking, but against the whiskey-drinking Irish, the wine-drinking Italians, and the beer-drinking Germans and Poles. There never was that much anger against the moonshine-making distillers of backwater Protestant states. In other words, a lot of all this agitation and propaganda had a nakedly political motive: to break the power of the Democratic political machines like Tammany Hall in the big cities, and to impose Low-Church Puritanical mores on Catholic newcomers. By the way, we owe the confiscatory Income Tax to these anti-alcohol Progressives. One of the main arguments raised against the prospect of Prohibition was the fact that the bulk of Federal taxes came from beer brewers and distillers, and without that revenue the government would go broke. So the crazed fanatics in the Anti-Saloon League then began a nation-wide campaign to enact a Federal Income Tax Law in 1913, which took away any excuse from those who opposed Prohibition on fiscal grounds. Don’t like the IRS? Blame maniacs like Carrie Nation and Wayne Wheeler. As for a former pornographic actress having a political career, I assume you mean Cicciolina in Italy, who many years back was elected as a representative to the Italian House of Deputies. But I can tell you that she was elected because of the fed-up rage of conservative male voters who couldn’t stand the politically correct garbage being spouted by academics and feminists and mainstream-media oracles. The idea of electing a cute chick who didn’t mind shaking her bare breasts in public was a brilliant move — and a foreshadowing of the powerful “meme” culture that is now so effective a weapon on the political right. Yes, many leftists are not prudes, and some of them do outrageous things. But our ineffective and gutless mainstream conservative movement also has a real problem: it simply won’t recognize that prostitution and pornography will NEVER disappear. Trying to make them disappear puts us in the same camp as the utopian left’s social engineers. Reply Brian A. Yapko February 26, 2024 Interesting additional information, Joe! I think there are several politicans now who have been supported despite pornographic careers. The one I had in mind was in New Mexico. His name is Roger Montoya and the Democrat Party came to his rescue. Here’s what Wikipedia says in its article about him and his pornographic past. “On October 5, Montoya released an official statement on his campaign Facebook page, saying “Thirty-eight years ago, as a 22-year-old struggling college student, I was a modern dancer and performer living in Los Angeles. I worked hard to earn my own way, never relying on anyone else, including my parents. I was auditioning for commercials and doing my best to succeed. Among those choices were two adult films I acted in as an adult, with other adults, in a very different environment and time. I am not proud of that choice, as I was young and naïve, but those experiences helped me to understand the exploitation young people face. Those experiences do not reflect who I am, and they are insignificant in the scope of my life’s work, yet they helped inspire my dedication to my community and the work I do to make sure that youth have opportunities, support and confidence.” He also added that “the GOP dredging up this past amounted to a distraction from the real issues at stake in the November election.” The state Democratic Party supported Montoya, calling out the GOP Chair Steve Pearce for launching “an unacceptable and hypocritical attack on Montoya in an attempt to shame a gay man for a choice made in the distant past, while ignoring Donald Trump’s long record of illicit conduct.” The Democrats will support any moral failing from one of their own and then twist it into an attack on Donald Trump. Susan Jarvis Bryant February 27, 2024 Joe, I love the jaunty form and the descriptions used in this highly entertaining poem to conjure this oh so recognizable figure – this arbiter of truth and beauty all in the name of God, which somehow gives his pious opining weight, enabling him to judge others. I particularly like the phrase, “his stern puritanical hate.” Oh, the irony – a man who claims to be doing God’s duty who has no idea who God is. Like others in the comments section, I had no idea who Comstock was… but (as your poem says) his spirit certainly lives on, and it would do us all good to keep an eye open for him… or her. I would like to add that to my mind, all art is born from being human. We are by nature sinful – we are a passionate, gluttonous, covetous, hedonistic, vengeful, duplicitous people trying to rise above our curse. Our art reflects our wants, our wonder, and our wisdom. No human is divine in nature… and no human deserves to control art in the name of God, Anthony-Comstock style. I’m now going to veer off in a completely different direction. Is anyone else amused by the word “pulchritudinous”? If ever the sound of a word didn’t echo its meaning, for me this one is it. I always laugh when I read it. Joe, as ever, thank you! Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 27, 2024 Many thanks, Susan. I read Broun’s biography of Comstock many years ago, and I always thought I should write a poem about the guy. So last month I decided to put my hand to it. Using “pulchritude” was inevitable, since the word is a perfect dactyl. In my opinion, censorship of artworks is simply the modern, secular form of the old heresy of iconoclasm. It says that there shall be no images or fictive representations that might take your mind off fixed ideological imperatives. Reply Daniel Kemper February 28, 2024 I guffawed on so many levels to see this. Not bad, not bad. Always great to see more dactyls!! Are there any others who’ve posted dactyls here? (I was away for a bit and missed a lot.) Substituted meter’s a good choice for light verse and a long form in a new meter is a good choice, too. It allows a seasoned writer to wait to make a point until the meter is propitious. Oh, when you were writing, did you notice the effect of it being pushed by the flow so that it is difficult to find a place to end a sentence? It seems to have been a factor in Longfellow’s writing. Curious about the experience of writing.” Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 28, 2024 Actually Daniel, there are no substitutions at all in this poem on Comstock. Every line is purely dactylic, except that the even lines are truncated at the end, with the final two weak syllables of the fourth dactyl omitted. This is common practice when writing extended dactylic verse. There must be other examples of dactylic verse here at the SCP, but I can’t recall exactly where. Here’s another sample of my own, from many years ago: THE FATES GIVE OEDIPUS A CONSOLATION PRIZE Oedipus, Oedipus, it won’t be said of us That we abandoned you, blinded and frail. Say that you’re sorry for banging your mommy, and We’ll set you up with some fabulous tail. Sure, you can’t see her, but that’s immaterial — You can still function like any good male. In order to expedite amorous pleasantries We’ve had her undies embroidered in Braille. –Joseph S. Salemi The flow of dactylics is quick, so it’s best to end sentences (or break them neatly) at the end of the line. There are no new meters, as far as I’m concerned. Reply Adam Wasem February 29, 2024 A lively and entertaining piece in an unusual and difficult meter, Joseph. And very savvy of you to note how the old puritan prudishness has been completely overshadowed by a feminist fanaticism against not just sex, but seemingly the male gender itself, to the point that males in the workplace won’t be in rooms alone with a woman anymore, and that men don’t dare approach a woman in public at all, for fear of what could happen to them. At least, men with a sense of propriety and something to lose, that is. Surely the feminists didn’t intend for women to end up receiving male attention only from thugs, criminals, the insane and the uncaring, or did they? One can’t help but wonder. Reply Joseph S. Salemi February 29, 2024 You’re right, Adam. I myself refuse to meet any female students in my office for office hours, but instead tell them to send me an e-mail with any questions, or meet me in a public place like the school cafeteria or library, where we can be seen by others. I have no conversations at all with female colleagues, unless I have known them as friends for many long years. This is what gender feminism has reduced the academic world to now. Is it that feminists only want attention from thugs and criminals? Not really, although that is what they are setting themselves up for. The feminist rage against the male sex has to be seen as a complex Gestalt that encompasses several things. The actual target of hatred is the white, conservative, religious male who shows skill, competence, direct perception and expression, a sense of humor, and a cool self-assurance. He is often called “the alpha male,” or “the chauvinist male.” I recall one feminist writer bemoaning him as “the kind of energetic and unsmiling Frenchman whom one sees walking quickly and confidently with his attache case through an airport lounge, not noticing anyone else.” If you can understand the sheer rage that lies behind that description, you can understand feminism. It’s a consuming hostility towards Western males, and against the Western civilization that they have made. Reply Mia February 29, 2024 Dare I suggest that this feminist writer that you quote gives herself away when she writes, ‘ not noticing anyone else’. Now is it lack of notice of anyone else or specifically the lack of notice she gets from Alpha males that irks her! For myself I used to be very much embarrassed by everyone noticing me, in my youth that is, now I know what it feels like to feel anonymous as an older person. So it must be pretty irksome when one is young and unnoticed. That’s my tuppence worth anyway. Also excuse me for intruding in yours and Adam’s conversation. Joseph S. Salemi February 29, 2024 Mia, I am very grateful for your comment. You do not intrude at all. Here at the SCP there are no private conversations, and we all can add our tuppence worth at any time. Please do not be shy. I too feel anonymous in my old age. People don’t seem to notice me, except to offer me a seat on the train when they see my walking stick. Mia March 3, 2024 Thank you and best wishes to you. Joseph S. Salemi March 11, 2024 I hope readers will forgive me, but I just learned of something today that is a striking example of how some feminists have become absurdly censorious because of their moral prissiness. One of my female colleagues told me that when she went to the women’s bathroom a few days back to relieve herself, she encountered another female faculty member who was at one of the sinks, brushing and setting her hair. My colleague said hello, and then quickly went to one of the toilet cubicles where she emptied her bladder (she had been in deep discomfort and had to go badly). When she emerged from the cubicle, the other female faculty member, in a tone of deeply offended dignity, said “Didn’t it occur to you to wait until I had exited the restroom, instead of subjecting me to the undignified sound of your urination?” My colleague said “Isn’t this a ladies’ restroom? Isn’t urination one of the things we do here? Isn’t it a public facility?” The other woman replied “That has nothing to do with it! It is unseemly and indecent that I should have to hear you urinating when I am here! It is positively VULGAR AND UNACCEPTABLE!” Am I wrong about new varieties of Comstockery sprouting up in the backwaters of feminist insanity? If one woman can’t listen to another woman pissing, then we have reached a level of Puritanism that even old Anthony wouldn’t have imagined. Let’s hear what the ladies have to say. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant March 12, 2024 I’m not surprised to hear these pious peepeephobes are bullying those with bursting bladders in the ladies’ loo. If urine with the anti-tinkle crowd you’re probably the sort who thinks exhaling will kill the planet. Thank goodness your colleague’s bathroom trip didn’t include number 2 on this pisstaker’s list of piddling offences… she may not be alive to tell the tale. Toilet humor aside, this saddens and worries me. After giving birth to my son, I was on a cramped hospital ward with four new mothers with one bathroom between us. We cared for one another with compassion, sympathy, and joy. What has happened to what it means to be a woman? Where is the camaraderie? Where is the empathy? Where is the understanding?! I fear women have become the enemy of women in a world where only men identifying as women are exempt from all criticism in the “women’s restrooms” and elsewhere. I think this outrageous behavior has more to do with the culture war than it has to do with Puritanism. We now inhabit a world that sexualizes, sex-traffics, neuters and mutilates children, yet thinks the sound of a woman passing urine in a women’s public toilet is unacceptable. Insanity reigns. Reply Yael March 12, 2024 My husband tells the story of how his grandfather, who had German, English and French ancestry and lived in New England during the time of mostly no indoor plumbing, was fond of saying that “flush toilets are the ruination of the world”. Their family didn’t succumb to indoor plumbing until about 1960. I’m thankful to be living in the Bible belt where Southern hospitality and human compassion are still thriving. Reply Margaret Coats March 12, 2024 Joseph, in Japan bodily sounds made in the privacy of public toilets have long been considered unrefined, and therefore fancy shops and department stores are equipped such that a cover-up sound is automatically produced. Homes of the wealthy may also have such equipment, but no one expects it everywhere–certainly not in transport stations or school buildings. And any Japanese person of either sex would consider the verbal conflict you describe as far worse than toilet noise. Status as well as class is involved, and thus a female faculty member should consider such complaints beneath her dignity. Students might make jokes (and toilet jokes abound in Japan), but always aiming to preserve congeniality. Reply Joseph S. Salemi March 12, 2024 My female colleague also informs me that this particular prissy woman also has the habit of bringing in boxes of small candy bars or fruitcake to her classes, and distributing them to her students. When asked why, she replied that non-white students suffer from “food anxiety” because of their universal poverty, and therefore she needs to make sure they have sufficient nourishment while they are in her class. When others laughed and pointed out that this was not only absurd and sentimentalizing, but also insulting to non-white students, she stormed out of the faculty room in a wounded huff. The longer you deal with left-liberals, the more you can discern the shape of a certain otherworldly Gestalt about them, made up of ideology, inflated sentiment, scrupulosity, moral self-congratulation, and narcissism. Reply Lannie David Brockstein March 12, 2024 If you want to be even more horrified, you should view this Rebel News video by Sheila Gunn Reid, in which she reports on a raging Wokeist that became an Ottawa school trustee. A few months ago, that evil bitch was sanctioned. But really, she should have been thrown into a volcano: Rebel News (July 31th, 2023) – “Exclusive: Internal OCDSB docs show trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth refused to follow her safety plan”: https://odysee.com/@RebelNews:9/exclusive-internal-ocdsb-docs-show:4 Reply Joseph S. Salemi March 12, 2024 Canada seems to be infamous for nurturing these obnoxious wokeist bitches like Nili Kaplan-Myrth. But why in hell do Canadians in Ottawa elect mental cases like her to public office? Lannie David Brockstein March 13, 2024 On March 12th, 2024, Joseph S. Salemi wrote: >>> “But why in hell do Canadians in Ottawa elect mental cases like her to public office?” That meshuganer was elected as a single-issue candidate, because during the covid-pandemic Canada was one goose-step away from being a historical rhyme of Nazi Germany, due to many Canadians being terribly afraid of covid. Along with blackface-Trudeau and the television-robot that is “brought to you by Pfizer”, Nili Kaplan-Myrth also fearmongered with the fervor of the Muslim supremacist Taliban terrorist organization (that forces all women in Afghanistan to wear burkas), for all students to be forced to wear face masks. But the scientific reason for her having been elected applies to all countries where Nature has become out of balance due to volcanos (which are the natural predators of evil bitches), having been prohibited as part of the women’s suffrage movement from being fed evil bitches, such as the insufferable Chrystia Freeland (Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister), Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, and Greta Thunberg. That is why the vast majority of volcanos in North America and Europe have been dormant since the early 20th century, with there being some exceptions, such as in Italy, where Mount Etna and Stromboli continue to be active due to their regularly being fed a healthy diet of evil bitches. The Italians have it right: Women should have the right to be voted into positions of power, and volcanos should have the right to be fed evil bitches who abuse that power! Reply Joseph S. Salemi March 13, 2024 Lannie, I’m sure that’s the correct explanation. We used to have Mount St. Helen’s in the Pacific Northwest, and Paricutin in Mexico, but I suppose they are starving now. Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
C.B. Anderson February 25, 2024 In the past, Joseph, you have ocasionally mistaken anapests for dactyls, but no one will mistake your dactyls for anything else. Frankly, I had never heard of Comstock, partly, I’m sure, because he is now water under the bridge. What we might have here is one of the few good reasons we should ever be glad of liberal Supreme Courts. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi February 25, 2024 Well Kip, if we had a left-liberal Supreme Court today, I’m sure they would dig up spurious reasons why heterosexual pornography should be banned (all other types would be OK). Consider the new left-liberal orthodoxy on prostitution: women who sell their bodies should NEVER be prosecuted, while their male customers MUST be prosecuted. Is there anything crazier or less logical? And yet quite a few stupid countries have established this in law. Reply
C.B. Anderson February 25, 2024 Indeed, Joseph. I recall reading a poem by Derek Burgoyne in which exactly that situation in Sweden was discussed. But who says that anything should make sense?
Russel Winick February 25, 2024 Great poem on an interesting subject, whom I also had never heard of. Thanks for sharing this. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi February 25, 2024 I’m glad you liked it, Russel. There are a couple of good biographies of Comstock. He was a pure product of backwater New England Puritanism. He actually wanted to censor reproductions of classic Renaissance nudes. Reply
Paul Freeman February 25, 2024 There was a Renaissance nude furore recently over the statue of David being shown to students in Florida.
Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 There are dumb philistines everywhere, Paul. But they are especially prominent and powerful today among left-liberals and academics. Nice try.
Paul A. Freeman February 26, 2024 A solid example beats an amorphous label. You moan about lefties, liberals, blah, blah, blah, when evangelical nutjobs are in the same cancelling, censorship boat. The truth is there’s intolerance across the board.
Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 Well, at least you admit that the left is intolerant. That’s some progress. Comstock was a buffoon, and even in his own day he was laughed at and ridiculed for his silliness. But where today on the left is anyone going after the anti-pornography, anti-prostitution, anti-male, and anti-sex feminists? Where are there left-liberal poets attacking idiots like Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon? When will any of you speak out publicly about the absurd prostitution laws that prosecute male clients, but not the whores who solicit them?
Yael February 25, 2024 Apart from the interesting historical story, the poem is great and I like it a lot, thank you. I had never heard of this character before either. Where there is domination, intimidation, manipulation, or any combination thereof taking place, one can be certain that demonic oppression from the spiritually wicked principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world is being manifested. Some of the highest towers of the wicked powers hide behind a well constructed facade of strict religiosity. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi February 25, 2024 Thank you, Yael. It’s interesting that the great psychologist C.G. Jung, an agnostic, made the same point you have just made. Jung said his long experience as a practicing psychologist had convinced him that the most evil and destructive thing on earth was the human desire to exercise control and domination over other human beings. Reply
Phil S. Rogers February 25, 2024 An excellent and interesting poem. I admit I had no knowledge of Comstock, and had never heard the word, comstockery. Never to old to learn something new. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 Thank you, Phil. I believe the word “comstockery” was invented by G.B. Shaw, after Comstock tried to prosecute him for his play “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” Comstock couldn’t bear to hear even the slightest allusion to sex, whether the allusion was public or private. Reply
Cynthia Erlandson February 25, 2024 I, also, had not heard of this character before; but it seems that the strong rhythm of the dactylic meter is part of the poem’s description of him, and a good way to present the story. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 Thank you, Cynthia. One thing about dactylic meter — it has to be excruciatingly exact, or it loses its comic appeal. I feel the same way about limericks. A limerick with an off-rhyme or a missing syllable is like a fly in the buttermilk. Reply
Warren Bonham February 26, 2024 I learned some interesting and relevant history as well as a new poetic form. Thanks as always but I’m not sure about the expression “fly in the buttermilk”. Buttermilk is a vile product even without the addition of any external impurities. Reply
Brian A. Yapko February 26, 2024 Joe, this is a splendidly funny yet sober lesson in history. I am also one of your readers who has never heard of Anthony Comstock – but I certainly know the type. Not only squeamish and prudish but thoroughly controlling concerning the behavior and tastes of others. That this man did his censoring during the period when organizations were also lobbying for the criminalizing of alcoholic beverages is probably no coincidence. The late 19th Century and early 20th Century seems to have been a time when social engineering stood front and center as a way of addressing societal ills. You make an interesting point about the existence of sexual prudery and hypocrisy among modern feminists and, perhaps, others as well. But I believe that we are in fact talking about social engineering which goes well beyond sexual content: what do woke lefties do OTHER than social engineering? They inject race, transgenderism and other forms of identity politics where they simply do not belong and because it pleases them to treat all of humanity as their pet science experiment. Is Mr. Comstock not simply an early example of this type of DEI gestapo? Only in his time it’s limited to sexual mores. Nonetheless, same rotten impulse. And it’s as unsavory as it is tyrannical. Back on the issue of sexual prudery, in my experience leftists are in many ways the opposite of prudes and could use a little encouragement towards sexual morality. The movement (albeit fringe) to legalize the marriages of polyamorous “thruples” for instance. I’m aware of many who believe the sex industry should be legalized completely (a la Amsterdam) and it is now possible to have a viable political career despite being a former pornographic actor/actress. But Comstock is not the solution to such a breakdown in decency. The suicides he inspired, the enormous destruction of art – these are the fruits of an attempt to control society in a way that is destructive. How do we establish and maintain order – but not too MUCH order? I can no longer remember what a healthy society looks like. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi February 26, 2024 Brian, let me mention first that, if anyone is interested, there is an excellent biography of Comstock by Heywood Broun, published in 1927. It’s called “Anthony Comstock: Roundsman of the Lord.” In fact, the title gave me the inspiration for the second line of the last quatrain in my poem. You bring up some very important points. Yes, Comstock was one facet of the Progressivist movement of his time. His conservative scrupulosity was not necessarily in tune with other aspects of Progressivism like eugenics, birth control, slum clearance, anti-machine politics, trust-busting, and pure-food-and-drug enactments. But it was certainly in tune with the prohibitionist mania, the anti-prostitution campaigns, feminist-suffragist agitation, and the insufferable movement to encourage “moral uplift” that H.L. Mencken derided. This Progressivism was fiercely political and activist, and is a mirror image of the left-liberal fanaticism of today. And you quite correct — the shared linchpin in all of this activity is the left-liberal impulse to impose social engineering on everyone, whether they want it or not. The massive anti-alcohol campaign began much earlier in the 1830s, but by the early twentieth century it had taken on a strongly anti-Catholic aura. Progressivist rage was not just against drinking, but against the whiskey-drinking Irish, the wine-drinking Italians, and the beer-drinking Germans and Poles. There never was that much anger against the moonshine-making distillers of backwater Protestant states. In other words, a lot of all this agitation and propaganda had a nakedly political motive: to break the power of the Democratic political machines like Tammany Hall in the big cities, and to impose Low-Church Puritanical mores on Catholic newcomers. By the way, we owe the confiscatory Income Tax to these anti-alcohol Progressives. One of the main arguments raised against the prospect of Prohibition was the fact that the bulk of Federal taxes came from beer brewers and distillers, and without that revenue the government would go broke. So the crazed fanatics in the Anti-Saloon League then began a nation-wide campaign to enact a Federal Income Tax Law in 1913, which took away any excuse from those who opposed Prohibition on fiscal grounds. Don’t like the IRS? Blame maniacs like Carrie Nation and Wayne Wheeler. As for a former pornographic actress having a political career, I assume you mean Cicciolina in Italy, who many years back was elected as a representative to the Italian House of Deputies. But I can tell you that she was elected because of the fed-up rage of conservative male voters who couldn’t stand the politically correct garbage being spouted by academics and feminists and mainstream-media oracles. The idea of electing a cute chick who didn’t mind shaking her bare breasts in public was a brilliant move — and a foreshadowing of the powerful “meme” culture that is now so effective a weapon on the political right. Yes, many leftists are not prudes, and some of them do outrageous things. But our ineffective and gutless mainstream conservative movement also has a real problem: it simply won’t recognize that prostitution and pornography will NEVER disappear. Trying to make them disappear puts us in the same camp as the utopian left’s social engineers. Reply
Brian A. Yapko February 26, 2024 Interesting additional information, Joe! I think there are several politicans now who have been supported despite pornographic careers. The one I had in mind was in New Mexico. His name is Roger Montoya and the Democrat Party came to his rescue. Here’s what Wikipedia says in its article about him and his pornographic past. “On October 5, Montoya released an official statement on his campaign Facebook page, saying “Thirty-eight years ago, as a 22-year-old struggling college student, I was a modern dancer and performer living in Los Angeles. I worked hard to earn my own way, never relying on anyone else, including my parents. I was auditioning for commercials and doing my best to succeed. Among those choices were two adult films I acted in as an adult, with other adults, in a very different environment and time. I am not proud of that choice, as I was young and naïve, but those experiences helped me to understand the exploitation young people face. Those experiences do not reflect who I am, and they are insignificant in the scope of my life’s work, yet they helped inspire my dedication to my community and the work I do to make sure that youth have opportunities, support and confidence.” He also added that “the GOP dredging up this past amounted to a distraction from the real issues at stake in the November election.” The state Democratic Party supported Montoya, calling out the GOP Chair Steve Pearce for launching “an unacceptable and hypocritical attack on Montoya in an attempt to shame a gay man for a choice made in the distant past, while ignoring Donald Trump’s long record of illicit conduct.” The Democrats will support any moral failing from one of their own and then twist it into an attack on Donald Trump.
Susan Jarvis Bryant February 27, 2024 Joe, I love the jaunty form and the descriptions used in this highly entertaining poem to conjure this oh so recognizable figure – this arbiter of truth and beauty all in the name of God, which somehow gives his pious opining weight, enabling him to judge others. I particularly like the phrase, “his stern puritanical hate.” Oh, the irony – a man who claims to be doing God’s duty who has no idea who God is. Like others in the comments section, I had no idea who Comstock was… but (as your poem says) his spirit certainly lives on, and it would do us all good to keep an eye open for him… or her. I would like to add that to my mind, all art is born from being human. We are by nature sinful – we are a passionate, gluttonous, covetous, hedonistic, vengeful, duplicitous people trying to rise above our curse. Our art reflects our wants, our wonder, and our wisdom. No human is divine in nature… and no human deserves to control art in the name of God, Anthony-Comstock style. I’m now going to veer off in a completely different direction. Is anyone else amused by the word “pulchritudinous”? If ever the sound of a word didn’t echo its meaning, for me this one is it. I always laugh when I read it. Joe, as ever, thank you! Reply
Joseph S. Salemi February 27, 2024 Many thanks, Susan. I read Broun’s biography of Comstock many years ago, and I always thought I should write a poem about the guy. So last month I decided to put my hand to it. Using “pulchritude” was inevitable, since the word is a perfect dactyl. In my opinion, censorship of artworks is simply the modern, secular form of the old heresy of iconoclasm. It says that there shall be no images or fictive representations that might take your mind off fixed ideological imperatives. Reply
Daniel Kemper February 28, 2024 I guffawed on so many levels to see this. Not bad, not bad. Always great to see more dactyls!! Are there any others who’ve posted dactyls here? (I was away for a bit and missed a lot.) Substituted meter’s a good choice for light verse and a long form in a new meter is a good choice, too. It allows a seasoned writer to wait to make a point until the meter is propitious. Oh, when you were writing, did you notice the effect of it being pushed by the flow so that it is difficult to find a place to end a sentence? It seems to have been a factor in Longfellow’s writing. Curious about the experience of writing.” Reply
Joseph S. Salemi February 28, 2024 Actually Daniel, there are no substitutions at all in this poem on Comstock. Every line is purely dactylic, except that the even lines are truncated at the end, with the final two weak syllables of the fourth dactyl omitted. This is common practice when writing extended dactylic verse. There must be other examples of dactylic verse here at the SCP, but I can’t recall exactly where. Here’s another sample of my own, from many years ago: THE FATES GIVE OEDIPUS A CONSOLATION PRIZE Oedipus, Oedipus, it won’t be said of us That we abandoned you, blinded and frail. Say that you’re sorry for banging your mommy, and We’ll set you up with some fabulous tail. Sure, you can’t see her, but that’s immaterial — You can still function like any good male. In order to expedite amorous pleasantries We’ve had her undies embroidered in Braille. –Joseph S. Salemi The flow of dactylics is quick, so it’s best to end sentences (or break them neatly) at the end of the line. There are no new meters, as far as I’m concerned. Reply
Adam Wasem February 29, 2024 A lively and entertaining piece in an unusual and difficult meter, Joseph. And very savvy of you to note how the old puritan prudishness has been completely overshadowed by a feminist fanaticism against not just sex, but seemingly the male gender itself, to the point that males in the workplace won’t be in rooms alone with a woman anymore, and that men don’t dare approach a woman in public at all, for fear of what could happen to them. At least, men with a sense of propriety and something to lose, that is. Surely the feminists didn’t intend for women to end up receiving male attention only from thugs, criminals, the insane and the uncaring, or did they? One can’t help but wonder. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi February 29, 2024 You’re right, Adam. I myself refuse to meet any female students in my office for office hours, but instead tell them to send me an e-mail with any questions, or meet me in a public place like the school cafeteria or library, where we can be seen by others. I have no conversations at all with female colleagues, unless I have known them as friends for many long years. This is what gender feminism has reduced the academic world to now. Is it that feminists only want attention from thugs and criminals? Not really, although that is what they are setting themselves up for. The feminist rage against the male sex has to be seen as a complex Gestalt that encompasses several things. The actual target of hatred is the white, conservative, religious male who shows skill, competence, direct perception and expression, a sense of humor, and a cool self-assurance. He is often called “the alpha male,” or “the chauvinist male.” I recall one feminist writer bemoaning him as “the kind of energetic and unsmiling Frenchman whom one sees walking quickly and confidently with his attache case through an airport lounge, not noticing anyone else.” If you can understand the sheer rage that lies behind that description, you can understand feminism. It’s a consuming hostility towards Western males, and against the Western civilization that they have made. Reply
Mia February 29, 2024 Dare I suggest that this feminist writer that you quote gives herself away when she writes, ‘ not noticing anyone else’. Now is it lack of notice of anyone else or specifically the lack of notice she gets from Alpha males that irks her! For myself I used to be very much embarrassed by everyone noticing me, in my youth that is, now I know what it feels like to feel anonymous as an older person. So it must be pretty irksome when one is young and unnoticed. That’s my tuppence worth anyway. Also excuse me for intruding in yours and Adam’s conversation.
Joseph S. Salemi February 29, 2024 Mia, I am very grateful for your comment. You do not intrude at all. Here at the SCP there are no private conversations, and we all can add our tuppence worth at any time. Please do not be shy. I too feel anonymous in my old age. People don’t seem to notice me, except to offer me a seat on the train when they see my walking stick.
Joseph S. Salemi March 11, 2024 I hope readers will forgive me, but I just learned of something today that is a striking example of how some feminists have become absurdly censorious because of their moral prissiness. One of my female colleagues told me that when she went to the women’s bathroom a few days back to relieve herself, she encountered another female faculty member who was at one of the sinks, brushing and setting her hair. My colleague said hello, and then quickly went to one of the toilet cubicles where she emptied her bladder (she had been in deep discomfort and had to go badly). When she emerged from the cubicle, the other female faculty member, in a tone of deeply offended dignity, said “Didn’t it occur to you to wait until I had exited the restroom, instead of subjecting me to the undignified sound of your urination?” My colleague said “Isn’t this a ladies’ restroom? Isn’t urination one of the things we do here? Isn’t it a public facility?” The other woman replied “That has nothing to do with it! It is unseemly and indecent that I should have to hear you urinating when I am here! It is positively VULGAR AND UNACCEPTABLE!” Am I wrong about new varieties of Comstockery sprouting up in the backwaters of feminist insanity? If one woman can’t listen to another woman pissing, then we have reached a level of Puritanism that even old Anthony wouldn’t have imagined. Let’s hear what the ladies have to say. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant March 12, 2024 I’m not surprised to hear these pious peepeephobes are bullying those with bursting bladders in the ladies’ loo. If urine with the anti-tinkle crowd you’re probably the sort who thinks exhaling will kill the planet. Thank goodness your colleague’s bathroom trip didn’t include number 2 on this pisstaker’s list of piddling offences… she may not be alive to tell the tale. Toilet humor aside, this saddens and worries me. After giving birth to my son, I was on a cramped hospital ward with four new mothers with one bathroom between us. We cared for one another with compassion, sympathy, and joy. What has happened to what it means to be a woman? Where is the camaraderie? Where is the empathy? Where is the understanding?! I fear women have become the enemy of women in a world where only men identifying as women are exempt from all criticism in the “women’s restrooms” and elsewhere. I think this outrageous behavior has more to do with the culture war than it has to do with Puritanism. We now inhabit a world that sexualizes, sex-traffics, neuters and mutilates children, yet thinks the sound of a woman passing urine in a women’s public toilet is unacceptable. Insanity reigns. Reply
Yael March 12, 2024 My husband tells the story of how his grandfather, who had German, English and French ancestry and lived in New England during the time of mostly no indoor plumbing, was fond of saying that “flush toilets are the ruination of the world”. Their family didn’t succumb to indoor plumbing until about 1960. I’m thankful to be living in the Bible belt where Southern hospitality and human compassion are still thriving. Reply
Margaret Coats March 12, 2024 Joseph, in Japan bodily sounds made in the privacy of public toilets have long been considered unrefined, and therefore fancy shops and department stores are equipped such that a cover-up sound is automatically produced. Homes of the wealthy may also have such equipment, but no one expects it everywhere–certainly not in transport stations or school buildings. And any Japanese person of either sex would consider the verbal conflict you describe as far worse than toilet noise. Status as well as class is involved, and thus a female faculty member should consider such complaints beneath her dignity. Students might make jokes (and toilet jokes abound in Japan), but always aiming to preserve congeniality. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi March 12, 2024 My female colleague also informs me that this particular prissy woman also has the habit of bringing in boxes of small candy bars or fruitcake to her classes, and distributing them to her students. When asked why, she replied that non-white students suffer from “food anxiety” because of their universal poverty, and therefore she needs to make sure they have sufficient nourishment while they are in her class. When others laughed and pointed out that this was not only absurd and sentimentalizing, but also insulting to non-white students, she stormed out of the faculty room in a wounded huff. The longer you deal with left-liberals, the more you can discern the shape of a certain otherworldly Gestalt about them, made up of ideology, inflated sentiment, scrupulosity, moral self-congratulation, and narcissism. Reply
Lannie David Brockstein March 12, 2024 If you want to be even more horrified, you should view this Rebel News video by Sheila Gunn Reid, in which she reports on a raging Wokeist that became an Ottawa school trustee. A few months ago, that evil bitch was sanctioned. But really, she should have been thrown into a volcano: Rebel News (July 31th, 2023) – “Exclusive: Internal OCDSB docs show trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth refused to follow her safety plan”: https://odysee.com/@RebelNews:9/exclusive-internal-ocdsb-docs-show:4 Reply
Joseph S. Salemi March 12, 2024 Canada seems to be infamous for nurturing these obnoxious wokeist bitches like Nili Kaplan-Myrth. But why in hell do Canadians in Ottawa elect mental cases like her to public office?
Lannie David Brockstein March 13, 2024 On March 12th, 2024, Joseph S. Salemi wrote: >>> “But why in hell do Canadians in Ottawa elect mental cases like her to public office?” That meshuganer was elected as a single-issue candidate, because during the covid-pandemic Canada was one goose-step away from being a historical rhyme of Nazi Germany, due to many Canadians being terribly afraid of covid. Along with blackface-Trudeau and the television-robot that is “brought to you by Pfizer”, Nili Kaplan-Myrth also fearmongered with the fervor of the Muslim supremacist Taliban terrorist organization (that forces all women in Afghanistan to wear burkas), for all students to be forced to wear face masks. But the scientific reason for her having been elected applies to all countries where Nature has become out of balance due to volcanos (which are the natural predators of evil bitches), having been prohibited as part of the women’s suffrage movement from being fed evil bitches, such as the insufferable Chrystia Freeland (Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister), Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, and Greta Thunberg. That is why the vast majority of volcanos in North America and Europe have been dormant since the early 20th century, with there being some exceptions, such as in Italy, where Mount Etna and Stromboli continue to be active due to their regularly being fed a healthy diet of evil bitches. The Italians have it right: Women should have the right to be voted into positions of power, and volcanos should have the right to be fed evil bitches who abuse that power! Reply
Joseph S. Salemi March 13, 2024 Lannie, I’m sure that’s the correct explanation. We used to have Mount St. Helen’s in the Pacific Northwest, and Paricutin in Mexico, but I suppose they are starving now.
