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Thursday, February 04, 2010

February 4, 2010 Edition of Toylit on Sale Now!

For those of you who wanted to see what the final drafts of the news poems would look like, this is it. This edition has the finesse and polish that was lacking in the previous edition: squandered opportunities are taken, shortcuts eliminated, rough lines rewritten... if you want to see what the News Poems look like in a final-draft version, this is it. Unlike the re-launch edition of Toylit, this will stay on sale longer. Since it is not a first edition, I took $5 off the cover price.

This is more or less a clean book of poetry so if that's what you were waiting to buy, it's on sale now. Unlike the prior edition, this one doesn't have an ISBN # and the next edition with an ISBN# won't come out until the end of this month. The Feb 4, 2010 Edition of Toylit. Click below to buy.

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$5 for 2.3.10 Toylit v3.01 Download

We know that the sketch can sometimes be more interesting than the finished painting--if only for the unrealized possibilities. Toylit is sketched daily as are its revisions. As of about 5pm PST, I'm going to work on the 2.4.10 edition of Toylit and will discontinue the 2.3.10 edition at around 20 circulation. Own sketches of poems and address them as living products of the author's performance (the poet's life is performance art). Sure, you'll have a chance to own your own copy of Toylit with these titles in them later, but you won't have a chance to own a printed edition with this draft: typos and all.

If you want an electronic copy, that's fine too, but I find it unlikely it will ever be a collector's item. Still, if you want to read the much better versions of Global Village and Haitian Fright Song, now you can do so for $5.

What's important to note is that Toylit is produced daily, in my spare time, which means I prioritize the deadline over the production quality. It is an evolving testament, which I think, makes it more compelling. We are embodied in time and while poetry can transcend time to a certain extent, it's still germinated in a temporal space.

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Clans and Clerics[Today's News Poem, Feb 4, 2010]

Clans and Clerics, Feb 4, 2010
By Khakjaan Wessington

"… I still will tell you that I believe the situation in Afghanistan is serious. I do not say now that I think it's deteriorating. I said that last summer and I believe that that was correct. I feel differently now... This is all in the minds of the participants. And I mean, the Afghan people are the most important, but the insurgents are another one. You're just convincing people..."

-General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of Coalition Forces in Afghanistan

America was lost in increments
We measure using friendships made and lost.
For every clique's a pending coup.
The business-types—who love in dollars, cents—
Feign pals until the checks are signed and crossed.
No wonder when the revolution's due

It wins: who writes the history of calls,
Of contracts signed? Of relatives, of chums
We made at school or work or in the street?
With gun on back, a young jihadi crawls
Through snow to kill—you think he cares of bums
Like you? We learn to win with each defeat.

In snow he thinks of what his father wants
Who wants whatever's best for everyone
He knows; but first comes flesh before the rest.
And if he lives it won't be you—his aunt's
Consideration makes him drop the gun—
Who stops the fighting, beats their army's best:

Instead it's work, the need to pay his way.
The world's old hippies ought to get the need
To distance self from indiscretions youth
Demands. What once was black and white is gray
Like hair, with age. With kids we need to feed,
We learn that love dispenses with the truth

As once we saw: and thus the revolution's made
A coup, like here, to keep their families all paid.

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