On not leaving the field
Ring-wingers who want to be heard
Note Newt’s place is solidly third.
But if right wing votes were combined,
The front-runner might fall behind.
So they say to Newt, “Won’t you go?”
And Newt, being Newt, answers no.
Newt’s ideological kin
Are dreading a moderate’s win.
They argue that it would advance
The cause if Newt gave Rick a chance
To face Mitt not in a duet.
And Newt, being Newt, still says nyet.
“When England was under the blitz,
Did Churchill say,
‘Let’s call it quits’?”
Says Newt, That is not what you see
From statesmen like Churchill and me.”
“Oh, please, just this once, Newt, they say.
And Newt, being Newt, says, “No way.”
Calvin Trillin: Deadline Poet The Nation 4/9/2012