In which for the first and only time in my life I quote “Caddyshack.”

I agreed with most of Adam Gopnik’s essay in the Globe and Mail on January 18th about how the failure of the “Access Hollywood” tape to sink Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign was an inflection point in US political life. I was also grateful that his summary of the film Caddyshack relieved me from having to watch it myself, while providing me with this insight: Being a poet is a lot like being Bill Murray’s character in that film. He recounts having caddied for the Dalai Lama, who failed to tip him after a round of golf, but assured him that “There won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed you will receive total consciousness.”