April 2025 – M. K. Waller

National Poetry Month Is Come–But Not Gone

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

The ON / ly THING / we HAVE / to FEAR / is FEAR / it SELF

A perfect iambic hexameter line.

If Shakespeare had written it in blank verse:

The only thing we have to fear is fear
Itself.

The rhythm most natural to the English language.

Repetition. Alliteration.

Short, common words.

Musical.

Easily remembered.

Poetry.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

– Franklin D. Roosevelt, “First Inaugural Address”

Image of fear by Janusz Walczak from Pixabay

Here’s how it works:

A beetle has six legs.

You remove one for economy.

Then it doesn’t walk straight so you remove another one.

Then it walks too slowly.

So you say, “We might as well kill it off.”

It works for ladybugs. Dragonflies. Butterflies. Medicare. Medicaid. Social Security. The Postal Service. Anything.

No matter how well it’s working in the first place.

Of course, you can stomp on it and kill it outright, but that’s so gross. People might think you wanted it dead.

Definition of “Beetle Mentality” thanks to The Royal, a British television series broadcast from 2003-2011.

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Image of ladybug by Anja from Pixabay

Image of dragonfly by Alexsandr Grigoriev from Pixabay

Image of butterfly by minka2507 from Pixabay