God Save Us From The Queen Poem by gershon hepner

GOD SAVE US FROM THE QUEEN

Are those who say "God save us from the Queen! "
cynical or Jacobinic
or am I misinterpreting their spleen,
merely, truly, misogynic?
Of the above they probably are none:
I think that they are hermeneuts,
midrashically all having lots of fun.
Not one of them would give two hoots
about peshat, which is of course, plain meaning,
to which they have no loyalty.
Leave them alone, don't mind their anti-queening,
roiling pros of royalty
as hermeneuts roil every kind of prose,
as well as poetry, of course.
"God save us from the Queen, " God surely knows
is hermeneutical discourse,
extravagant extravaganza. The Queen
may say, as did Victoria, "I'm
not amused, " but anyone who's been
a hermeneut should be, big time.

Alessandra Stanley ("Anchors Get Giddy Around the Crown, " NYT,6/6/12) discusses the media's response to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee:

God save us from the queen.
There's nothing like a regal celebration to bring out the royal pains of American television. And the four-day extravaganza to celebrate the 60-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II was particularly rich in folly.
With so much time and so little new to say, anchors and commentators are emboldened to be their worst selves. Viewers are like Elizabeth Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice, " who watched helplessly as her sisters made spectacles of themselves at a ball and concluded "that had her family made an agreement to expose themselves as much as they could during the evening, it would have been impossible for them to play their parts with more spirit, or finer success."…
Jon Stewart mercilessly mocked the television coverage, particularly the often inane enthusiasm of Piers Morgan on CNN, who described the flotilla on Sunday as an "orgy of excitement." On Tuesday Mr. Morgan gushed over the queen for many hours straight, but perhaps with more envy than admiration. As Royal Air Force jets streamed red, white and blue smoke while flying over Buckingham Palace, Mr. Morgan said, "I wish I was king."
CNN did devote almost as much to the Jubilee as BBC America did, but it's a little unfair to judge that cable news network by a royal event. CNN functions best in hard news and international disasters. And now, more than ever, CNN serves as cable news's best antidote to the solipsistic ranting of histrionic and proudly biased evening hosts on Fox News and MSNBC.
CNN's ratings on many nights are at a low point, which makes the network's refusal to follow its more successful rivals down the path of single-minded opinionating all the more admirable. Mr. Stewart joked that CNN, like Britain, is a fallen and enfeebled world power. But like Britain, CNN is a diminished empire that on special occasions still commands respect and attention. Except, paradoxically, when it gives lavish, unfiltered coverage to a glittery extravaganza like the Diamond Jubilee.

6/6/12