The Week’s Tidings in Blank Verse<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n –<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where mountain vows confront the nation’s heart, A gilded tyrant toys with Fortune’s wheel, The northern anthem, forged to summon strength, The mason’s towers, trembling in the mist, –<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though wisdom crowns the scholar’s lofty brow, A splendid chart adorns the economic sea, Should fortress walls embrace the continent, The oil-fed tempests scour the nation’s purse, –<\/p>\n\n\n\n The builder’s rescue, cast in gilded terms, The summer sun shall assay rival steel, From Britain’s fallen minister there comes –<\/p>\n\n\n\n The scaffold built to cradle vacant homes Soft honey poured upon imperial ears Who fails to harvest promise sows regret; –<\/p>\n\n\n\n –<\/p>\n\n\n\n The western cedars murmur to the wind, The Stampede’s laughter mingles now with dust, Within the tents, where banners snap like sails, The cannabis vine, patiently entwined, –<\/p>\n\n\n\n By measured words the northern helmsman steers One steadfast soul receives the laurel’s light, Necessity may wear a courtly smile, –<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some trust that history mends its fractured clock; How dear the price to bind a restless realm, Across the seas old allies clasp new hands, Toward Arctic stars the compass turns again, –<\/p>\n\n\n\n An embassy long absent leaves the realm The ballots wait like arrows in the quiver, What some call rescue others christen alms<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Court Painter, mischievously, challenged the studio resident scribe Corrosive Horatio Attila Thundershower (ChatGPT) to render in blank verse, selected Great Dominion headlines of the past week. To provide a respite from all the reading, Court Painter has opened his vast storehouse of under appreciated gems from years gone by… offering a little eye puzzlement for … Continue reading “Blank verse…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-images","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33662"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33669,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33662\/revisions\/33669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/doug-ford.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The maple sceptre pleads for common cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And cracks the pillars holding markets fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finds discord woven through its brazen chords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Await the monarch’s balm for wounded stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Elbows-Up-with-Carney-Trump-1-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The Commons kneel to subtler sovereigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet rudderless it drifts through listless tides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their granite arms may prove a prison’s clasp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our own neglect has stoked the furnace flame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Court-Painter-Dealmakers.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Seems but a salve on fractures self-inflicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where patience tempers every claimant’s blade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A raven bearing prophecy in ash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/carney-speech-quotes-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Leans perilously beneath its borrowed beams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May sweeten wolves, yet sharpen hidden fangs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The autumn counts what summer failed to reap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Pierre-No-MOU.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
“Our grief bears equal weight beneath these skies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As politics bestrides the bucking grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ambition locks its antlers in the smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still strains beneath the gardener’s iron hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/M-Carney-quotes-3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The tempest circling Trump’s uncertain wake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A catalyst whose spark outlives the flame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet flattery soon tarnishes its gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Rotter-PP.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Hope, unaided, keeps no faithful watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When prairie winds unlace Confederation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While treaties bloom like banners in the dawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where frost and strategy embrace as one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carney-elbows-climate.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
To read dark mirrors through a clouded glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their hour concealed beneath the statesman’s cloak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Stand-back-stand-bypxm.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"