Hart Seely brandished a gaudy yellow wig that used to belong to his daughter. If he could get the comb-over to stay in place, he would achieve the right look. With the wig finally settled on his head, he began to read.

“I have beautiful hair.
It’s not that bad.
And it is my hair.
Is it my hair?
It is.”

Seely rises at 6 a.m. every day to scour the internet for “golden nuggets” like this one.

Donald Trump has unintentionally become a critically acclaimed poet. Seely, a Syracuse-based author and journalist, spent six weeks combing through transcriptions of Trump’s speeches. He then arranged the presidential candidate’s words onto pages and compiled them into a book, “Bard of the Deal: The Poetry of Donald Trump.”

“They’re not so much what you would call newsworthy quotes, as they are offhand little asides in his speeches where he talks about everyday problems,” Seely said. “In some instances, I think they give insights into the kind of person Trump is.”

After its release in December, the book reached Amazon’s top limerick and political satire book lists and was featured in a Buzzfeed listicle.

Seely spends more than two hours a day combing through speeches given by the “one of a kind” White House hopeful. He said he has already gathered enough material for a second book.

Rachel Gilbert | Co-Feature Editor

 

During the early stages of the project, Seely said he felt torn. He described the sensation of hoping Trump would say something crazy to add to his collection, but was worried he may go too far and drop out of the running.

“Whenever Trump put his foot in his mouth … I thought to myself, ‘I blew it, he won’t even be around for when my book comes out,’” Seely said.

But it appears that Trump’s campaign will continue on, as he just secured a victory in the South Carolina primary on Saturday.

Seely continued to say that he doesn’t know whether he is for or against Trump. If Trump reaches the White House, it would mean a spike in book sales for Seely. However, he said he thinks the yellow-haired tycoon would make a “terrible” president.

Despite his fear of what could come as a result of Trump being elected, Seely described him as a brilliant man.

Seely is well versed in Trump-isms, producing up to 40 poems a day for the five to six weeks it took to complete the book. He amassed a collection of 400 chunks of wisdom before whittling it down to the 200 pieces that made the final product. He even spent so much time hunched over his desk that he said he threw his back out.

This type of work is not new to the former reporter for The Post Standard. Seely has produced two books of quotes before, collecting the ramblings of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and baseball announcer Phil Rizzuto.

Tom Peyer, a Syracuse-based comic book writer, worked with Seely on the Rizzuto project. He frequently offered help and advice while Seely slaved over the Trump transcriptions.

“When you’re writing fiction, you’re always starting with a blank page, but with this kind of work, you’re just fishing for quotes,” Peyer said. “You never start with a blank page or that fear and misery.”

The biggest challenge of a project like this is keeping your eyes peeled for the perfect “nugget,” Peyer said.

But at the end of the day, Seely said “stupid always does well,” meaning that readers enjoy the ludicrous soundbites uttered by Trump on the campaign trail.

However, the concept of found poetry often raises the question: Is it really poetry?

Seely’s book falls under the classification of this kind of writing. Found poetry is the arranging of phrases and words on a page to create poems. Bruce Smith, an English professor at Syracuse University said in an email that this type of poetry can lead to uncreative writing.

“Hart Seely’s work collects and arranges the essential ramblings and idiocy and racist, sexist, self-inflated pomposity of Trump and calls it poetry. It’s funny. It’s sad,” Smith said.

Seely described the process as “arranging the words on the page and giving it a pretentious title.” He admitted he doesn’t see the book as poetry, despite the title of the work. He prefers to view it as political satire.

“And with a candidate like Trump, the only true satire is his actual words,” Seely said.

Seely recalled a frequently asked question: Will the book be a help or hindrance to Trumps presidential bid? But Seely said he doesn’t think it will do either of those things.

Votes aren’t changed by marching in the street or by commenting online, he said. The only way to change a vote is to get up close and personal with a candidate to discuss their views, Seely said.

“If you change one or two votes in an election year, then I think you’ve had an impact. I think there are better tactics than condemnation,” Seely said.

As to whether there will be a second book, Seely said he is unsure.

Peyer said the editor is unstoppable and will work around the clock no matter what the job. But he also added that people like Trump go off the script. It would be hard to create a similar project with other candidates because, like machines, they churn out pre-prepared speeches.

Seely echoed this sentiment, citing Trump’s competitor Marco Rubio. In recent debates, Rubio has been criticized for sticking too closely to the script. After further thought, he suggested that someone should examine the words of Jim Boeheim.

Said Seely: “I just think that things like this are what win the war sometimes.”

Published on February 21, 2016 at 11:07 pm

Contact Rachel: rcgilber@syr.edu