Dr. Doggerel Howls At the Moon

A poem-by-poem YouTube favorite for years, Dr. Doggerel's howls of protest are now collected in both the paperback and electronic editions. On YouTube, where some poems hit more than 100,000 views, verses on the "versus" of this world have been followed since the Dog first got translated more than 40 years ago. Advent of the Putin/Trump kleptocracy made it time to hit the bookstores and e-readers with Dr. Doggerel's take on the situation – the Creation poem versus what we have done with the gift. Chapters include: The Bible vs. Creation, Society vs. Humanity, Corporations vs. Health, Power vs. Democracy, Putin/Trump vs. US, Religion vs. the Mystery – all concluding with a poetic exercise in reconciliation. How can a dog write poetry? Dr. Doggerel answers the question with (naturally) a poem: It's not by chance that God and Dog/ Get mirrored in this monologue/ The reverse spelling says a lot/ 'Bout what God is and Dog is not/ But creation mirrored in the two/ Speaks volumes for what love can do.

Dr. Doggerel addresses some of the big questions, including an Einstein take on biblical creation, the cruelty of corrupt power, the treason infused through our present government, the great circle of pre-history vs. remembered history, and finally, the beauty of the Earth and the impending disaster that should break our willfulness, but more likely will break our hearts. Set it to rhyme, and there you have Dr. Doggerel's protest howls.

Dr. Doggerel (aka Rev. Dr. Leland Witting) wrote tongue-in-cheek social criticism for his high school newspaper, at Columbia University, in graduate programs at the University of Maine and Bangor Theological Seminary, and as publisher/editor of a small-town weekly newspaper on the coast of Maine. His protest poetry has been aired on Maine community radio, YouTube, social media, in podcasts, and here, for the first time, in book form. He writes, "The urge to contrast humanity's stated values with our actual practices remains dogged. Hypocrisy rears its ugly head most readily in political, environmental, corporate and religious practices; howls of protest may mean little more than howling at the moon and yet, that's what we must do – sound a rude alarm."