So much for poetic license. Bangladesh’s information secretary has been sacked for a poem he wrote three years ago.

Fazul Karim has been sued by a ruling party official for calling historic figure Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a “dried plum” in a 2006 poem. The phrase means “good for nothing” in Bangladesh.

A government spokesman told Agence France Presse that Karim “has been sent into retirement … for writing a derogatory poem on Sheikh Mujib.”

Sheikh Mujib was assassinated along with more than a dozen members of his family in a military coup in 1975.

His daughter is current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Sheikh Mujib was named father of the nation after the country won independence following a war against Pakistan.

Tags: dried plum, retirement, sacked