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Monday, June 14, 2010

Man vs. Food [Guest Twitter Found Poem, June 14, 2010, by Ryan Ridge]

Man vs. Food [Guest Twitter Found Poem, June 14, 2010]
Ryan Ridge
From June 13, 2010
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem

My chicken scratch
is like decoding a serial killer's
rambling manifesto.
After they read my Chicken Manifesto
they will violently revolt.
Man vs. Food is simultaneously
inspiring and revolting.
Man vs. Food is my future calling.
I think my future wife
just prank called me.
I think I’m very drunk.
I think I see smoke.
I think food will be the death of me
someday.


Bio: Ryan Ridge writes and teaches in Southern California. Recent work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Abjective, Corium, DIAGRAM, elimae, Fact-Simile, JMWW, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. He maintains an archive of past work here.


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From Spice to Stone [Today's News Poem (Sonnet), June 14, 2010]

From Spice to Stone [Today's News Poem (Sonnet), June 14, 2010]

The spice is heated first no matter how
It's taken: needles, clean in leather bags;
Or smoke that flees the room and winds through boughs
Of deodar and rides a breeze—and drags
The user near the helicopter blades
That carry ammunition home to bone
And brick. The soldiers—far from home, on raids
To burn the crop—have found a trove in stone:
Beneath the deodars and graves of moss;
Below the gust of chopper blades in flight;
Beside the fields of poppies; where a loss
Can dissipate inside the wind at night:
A mechanism eats the roots in soil,
And poisons what is left, to rake the spoils.

“The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.”
– James Risen, June 13, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?ref=business

“As such, Klare is not hopeful about Afghanistan’s future, believing it will inevitably come to resemble Nigeria—with a veneer of democracy, constant violence, and most people remaining mired in poverty.”
– Haley Cohen, Vanity Fair, June 14, 2010
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/06/the-resource-curse-why-lithium-may-spell-misery-for-afghanistan.html

“Mr Galbraith, who was removed from his job after being outspoken over last year’s disputed Afghan presidential election, on Tuesday hinted that Mr Karzai was not only corrupt, but also a drug addict. “Some of the palace insiders say [Karzai] has a certain fondness for some of Afghanistan’s most profitable exports,” Mr Galbraith told MSNBC.”
– Edward Luce and Daniel Dombey, The Financial Times, April 7 2010 00:21 GMT
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eb5a9ed6-41d1-11df-865a-00144feabdc0.html

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Today's News Poem & Guest Twitter Found Poem Coming Up, But First...

If you're a regular reader, you know I'm always looking for ways to promote Toylit & am constantly shifting my tactics. For now, I think Stumbleupon is the most effective means of promotion. So if you appreciate all the hard work I put in to Toylit, then please help spread the word. I hate to nag, but Stumbleupon is the most effective means of promotion for Toylit so far. If you don't have an account and you want to help Toylit, set one up and promote as many Toylit URLs as possible. The more I get self-perpetuating promotion, the more I can focus on writing & editing, instead of promoting pre-existing writing.

So Stumbleupon for now is my favorite applause. Checking out my sponsors is my second favorite form, but I appreciate any and all promotions you do for Toylit.

That's all. Enjoy Today's News Poem & Guest Twitter Found Poem.

PS: Here's a how-to guide for promoting Toylit on Stumbleupon:

1)www.stumbleupon.com
2)Make a new account.
3)Open a second browser window.
4)Go to http://toylit.blogspot.com
5)Click the stumbleupon badge on the right side of the page.
6)If someone else already promoted the page first, there will be a green button. When you click it, it will go black.
7)If someone else did not promote the page, you will be sent to a submission page. Put 'poetry' in the tags section, click 'safe for work' and if you want to put a blurb in underneath, go for it. Something catchy for the casual browser.
8)I keep a promotions file to save having to retype things. I use alt-tab to bounce between applications and I can usually get 20 promotions done in 3-5 minutes. If I have to copy & paste a blurb for stumbleupon, that makes it more like 7-10 minutes.

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Origami Theremin vs Lady Luck's Maker [Twitter Found Poem, June 14, 2010]

Origami Theremin vs Lady Luck's Maker [Twitter Found Poem, June 14, 2010]
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem

Lady Luck commands my eviction.
I expect Mt. Scott to erupt pretty soon.
I expect earthquakes, a blizzard, ice, tornado, hail and flooding.
I expect ENERGY !!!!!!!!!!!!

it was just the power. i was shaking.
nobody else joined my theremin quest!
Even though the theremin alarm Siren
Kills Over 9000 and looks cool.

There's no time to waste!
Point to the left and ride that wave
of ENERGY!!!!!!!!!!!!
to meet my maker...
I fold my eviction notice into an origami
theremin alarm Siren...
and yes, my shit started blinking...
and yes earthquakes, a blizzard, ice,
tornado, hail and flooding... ENERGY
powers my origami theremin alarm Siren...

my quest: going to meet Lady Lucks maker
going to Point my origami theremin alarm Siren
at Lady Lucks maker...
going to Point to the left and ride that wave!!!!!!!!!!!!

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