The Poet Laureate of the Pentagon

                                                         




Compiled by Hart Seely, Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld, New York: Free Press, 2003.


Click here for a short biography of D. H. Rumsfeld.

(Click here for a short biography of D. H. Lawrence.)




Needless to say,
The president is correct.
Whatever it was he said.
            (Feb. 28, 2003, Dept. of Defense briefing)

As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know we don't know.
            (Feb 12, 2002, Dept. of Defense news briefing)


When they told me what
This was about,
I sat down last night
And made some notes.
I'm not into this detail stuff.
I'm more concepty.
            (Jan 9, 2002, Interview with the Washington Post)

Anything that I say
That I shouldn't have
Is off the record.
I want you to
Understand that
Right now, up front.
            (Jan 12, 2002, interview with the Washington Post)