PoliticsUkraineNancy Pelosibono

Bono Wrote A Poem About Ukraine For St. Patrick's Day And Nancy Pelosi Read It Aloud

There once was a man named Bono / Whose poem made Twitter go “Oh, no ...”
Hilary Hanson
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Deputy Editor, Trends, HuffPost

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made a memorable choice on Thursday — St. Patrick’s Day — while hosting the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon in Washington, D.C. She read aloud a poem by Bono, in which the U2 frontman got lyrical about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I got this message this morning from Bono,” Pelosi said in CSPAN video from the event, adding that the singer “has been a very Irish part of our lives.”

The poem was structured as a set of three limericks, and concluded with the lines, “Ireland’s sorrow and pain / Is now the Ukraine / And Saint Patrick’s name now Zelenskyy.”

Pelosi’s reading received applause and some appreciative chuckles from the audience. But many people on Twitter did not respond as positively, especially after the full text of Bono’s work began to circulate.

Some took note of Bono’s decision to use the limerick, which is a form of verse traditionally associated with comedic and/or crude subjects.

Others pointed out that while the poem is clearly meant to honor Ukraine, Bono called it “the Ukraine.” Ukrainians have made it clear they prefer that their country be called simply “Ukraine,” because “the Ukraine” carries historical connotations of the country being part of Russia and not its own nation.

And still more Twitter users were simply stricken by an overwhelming sense of cringe.

After reading the poem, Pelosi ― as CSPAN noted in a well-crafted tweet ― introduced Riverdance.

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