Before I post Today's News Poem, I have announcements:

1) When I post Today's News Poem, there will be three new posts for the day.
2) You are not hitting rtoady's site enough. He has the Toylit seal of approval, so please go there when you're done here.
3) Promotions and advert-clicks register as applause. Some of you have enough time to trawl through hundreds of posts here--surely you have time to make one last effort to show your appreciation, before leaving the site.

That's all. Enjoy the three poems.

ps: An old friend/talented writer keeps complaining that poetry's not his thing and even when he reads the news poems, he's still puzzled. Therefore, I am going to try writing 'abstracts' for each poem.

Philia: Depravity has become the norm and what was once shameful, we now champion.

Flak Jacket: You can read this as a poem about a suicide bomber, or as a more metaphorical explosion (note the artifacts mentioned in the poem... that was not accidental or for colorful language alone).

There's Freedom in Expedience My Child: Censorship starts with the self. A parent explains how abandoning good intentions for good pretenses is a survival skill.

Let me know if these abstracts were helpful. I worry they diminish the poems, but my friend is a fuckin' genius, so I'm inclined to believe he makes a valid point. Respond by e-mail or in this thread.

PPS: Toylit is accepting submissions now for antinews compositions. What is antinews? Protips: 1) Must NOT be non-fiction (Orwellian clause), journalism, or some similar expository bullshit. You have a whole world wide web for that crap. 2) Must respond to the news; either in particular (as with my News Poems) or in the abstract (as per Toady's poem & Lady Gaga piece). 3) Must be free of false consciousness. If you don't even have a notion of what that is, I don't want your submission. 4) If you have an angle--for example, the Found Poem on Twitter-- suggest it. I'll have to see that you are capable of sustaining a feature, but it's worth a shot. I want sports and entertainment writing. What kind of sports? Ever read Dan Clowes? That's my preference (don't repeat yourself). What kind of entertainment? I don't know, that crap's your job (if you want it).



Subscribe in a reader