The Wagner Problem In the 21st Century
by Michael Doyle

What do we do when authority doesn't fit?
In point of fact, Wagner was an ethical nitwit.
Despite 10 operas being core pillars of our iconography,
It's hard to get the blood stains out of his geography.

Hateful is as hateful does, and the Left's has been discerned
As an antisemitism that is avoided but cannot be unlearned.
The rude boy's vapidness will not be forgotten over time,
However much the academics dress up as being sublime.
 
Staging operas at the Met makes for a necessary confrontation
Noble gods and subterranean opposition fight before the nation. 
There's a lot of pain in racism's rubbed raw friction.
The worst of this is that fascism is not just useful fiction.

It is  the incomplete lessons that we pull from man's history,
And how we deal with this brings defeat or humanity's victory.
In the worldwide conflicts that fill our days with frayed doubt,
There is a lot left for this world yet to figure out.

Artistic traditions are forsaken in the name of diversity.
Old classics are overlooked and abandoned without mastery.
Western culture is stared down with self-loathing and timidity.
As though DEI is a greater investment than true artistry.

Tristan and Isolde is a metaphor for cultural memory. 
This structure has its roots in the struggle of our family.
On the one hand are questions of modern sensibility.
On the other hand, there are questions of civility.

(c) April 6, 2026   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved