There's Freedom in Expedience [Today's News Poem, April 7, 2010]

There's Freedom in Expedience My Child [Today's News Poem, April 7, 2010]
“...in relation to the establishment of the website http://MarkYudof.com, an art protest piece in which the artist expressed an alternate version of the future in which University of California President Mark Yudof publicly resigned his position by acknowledging that his “service as president is detrimental to the future of public education in the state of California.” ... As a direct result of the sit-in action, the University of California, San Diego’s Office of Information Technology Security shut down the bang.lab server’s access to the Internet for eight consecutive days.”
-micha, b.a.n.g. lab Letter of Support, April 7, 2010
http://bang.calit2.net/2010/04/letter-of-support-started-at-duke-university/
“cen·sor –noun 2. any person who supervises the manners or morality of others.”
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/censor
“Popular stories told of righteous censors revealing corruption as well as censors who accepted bribes.”
--Wikipedia bullshit that still makes an illustrative point
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorate
“Bottom line: The FCC can abandon its ideological pursuit of the "net neutrality" bogeyman, and get on with making the world safe for the iPad.”
--HOLMAN W. JENKINS, JR., Wall Street Journal, APRIL 7, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052702303411604575168053474388236.html

For children, drunks and other fools
It's fine to live by golden rules.
But when you age, remember dear,
Your ethics burden you with gear
You'd best abandon—else just die.
Adults don't bother with the why—
The good shall perish; niceness reigns.
The winner always learns to feign
The courage eaten foes displayed
In life (the fools who never played.
The ones who felt too much to live,
But sought to spend their lives—to give
It up—to die for abstract cause.
They beg for change with grubby paws.).
Relax, for no one cares for you
(In truth this chat was overdue)
As I, so I debunked the lie
To prick your hopes, release your sigh;
To save you from naive designs,
To save you from the cardboard sign—
The only freedom left for those
Who choose to wear their dirty clothes
And lay about in stink and dreams,
As members of the losing team.



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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).



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Flak Jacket [Guest News Poem, by Rutherford Toady; April 7, 2010]

Flak Jacket
By Rutherford Toady
http://carrioncall.blogspot.com

He walks swiftly, balancing
An unopened Can of Pepsi
On his clipboard until it topples off,
Thunks to the sidewalk.

He bends over, picks it up
And wordlessly sets it back on the board,

Clamping the dented can beneath his palm
As he darts across the street
And slips between the sliding glass doors.

Surely he must know
That the carbonation inside the can
Has become agitated, that
The can is now a bomb,
An aluminum grenade
Of volatile pop waiting
To have its pin cracked.
Surely he will take the time
To tap the top of the can
And hold it over the sink,
Pointing the spray safely away
When he flips the tab.
Surely he won't forget that.

Surely he won't take his drink
Directly into the meeting
Before opening it.
Surely today isn't the day
He decided to wear
His best, his only
Suit.

http://carrioncall.blogspot.com



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Philia [Twitter Found Poem, April 7, 2010]

Philia [Twitter Found Poem, April 7, 2010]
Re: crunchsports nicolablack snowandstars DiscoverMag pixel8design Aquadigio41510 that_quietstorm heartbreakchic HELLOitsRebecca eagleandrew Eloketh x_missboosie ScaryFact TiJack CORYTAYLORVA Geon4You

Every absurdity has a champion.
Sexual interest in being crawled upon
or nibbled by small insects
has a champion to defend it.

God will definitely bless necrophilia.
Tiger Woods was zipping about banging into everything Sexual
Even if you go by the 5 second rule
Even if you are not that interested anymore...
her body is still warm. A little necrophilia
never killed anyone.

I enjoy insects in art
but not dodging them
if you're into necrophilia Formicophilia
absurdity
if you're into SPECTACULARRR loool
sex
if you enjoy insects in art,
the height of absurdity in one generation
often becomes the height of wisdom in the next.



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