The Design and Bed of Our Penal Colony [Today's News Poem, April 4, 2010]

The Design and Bed of Our Penal Colony [Today's News Poem, April 4, 2010]
“There have been more than 3,000 murders of Afrikaner farmers in remote homesteads like this since the end of apartheid 16 years ago.”
--BBC, 18:58 GMT, Sunday, 4 April 2010 19:58 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8602967.stm
“With an attitude of respect and concern for other beings, we can create an atmosphere of happiness, real harmony and real brotherhood.”
--The Dalai Lama, Twitter, about 12 hours ago via web as of 2:38pm PST

White power sleeps and never dies,
It simply make a compromise.
To pause the never-ending war.
The other races seek to score
In turn. The tribal instinct stays,
For human beings will never stray
Too far from those they think as kin.
The eye, it lies. They think the skin
Has deeper bonds than blood they share.
The science (if you must compare)
Confirms that which one ought expect
To hear from self when ones reflects
On totems; such as anger, rage.
Unless one seeks to self-engage
And not excuse the whim or gene
With reason—with our great machines—
Unless we make an atmosphere
Of harmony, we make the gears
Of something that will evermore
Both dig and fill the earth it scores.



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Property Line [Today's News Sonnet, March 17, 2010]

Property Line [Today's News Sonnet, March 17, 2010]
“Armed groups who say they are fighting for a fairer share of oil wealth have also continued their campaign in the Niger Delta.”
--BBC, 19:09 GMT, Wednesday, 17 March 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8573178.stm

The sacred things I've seen involve the dawn
Or twilight's calming rays. I've seen the moths
Of Fall emerge, en masse, the earthly spawn
Of secret cycles. Fog and wings—a broth
Of rebirth: swilled with coffee; morning news
Online. Before my work begins, I like
To note the zeal of life as I peruse
The news to see what makes the markets spike
Or plunge. So many things are on the line:
My stocks, developers, my boss. I work
Until the twilight's near. Beneath the pine
Outside, atop the fence, a heron lurks.
I think it's plastic. New. It turns its head
To me. I smile. It flaps and flees in dread.



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Human Amongst the Androids [Today's News Poem, March 8, 2010]

Human Amongst the Androids [Today's News Poem, March 8, 2010]

“Some witnesses said villagers were caught in fishing nets and animal traps as they tried to escape and were then hacked to death. Mud huts were also set on fire. ”
–, BBC; 21:47 GMT, Monday, 8 March 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8555018.stm

“Google dominates online search, and is apparently eager to extend its reach to the other main screen in most homes.”
--Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired, March 8, 2010
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/google-dish-reportedly-test-android-based-satellite-television/

Psychotic beast, now obsolete
And rare enough (despite its threat)
To wander free amidst the feet
Of working beings; as if a pet—

Amongst the cubicles of gray;
Beneath a lightbulb sun of white;
Above the dirt of black decay:
In oubliettes, the glass bends light—

Psychotic beast, a rarity
Inside the gears of stone and flesh:
Do wild desires give verity
To self, though greed might tear the mesh

Of self-restraint we prize so much?
And as a beast can you admire
A thing you cannot feel, nor touch?
At six you set your home on fire

And threw your father's phone inside
To burn. You said you hoped you'd die
Before you let some bells decide
For you to go; to laugh or cry,

To sit and type, or tuck babes in.
You said you'd rather die than work
Like ants. You said we lived in sin.
Remember? Said we're robot clerks

With ISPs for synapse links?
You said these things, we don't forget
(We are a hive, a world that thinks):
We live—we thrive, you lost that bet.

And now we'll scratch beneath your chin,
And pour a dish of cream for you
Before the work of endless win
Consumes us (it is never through).



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Why Turkey's Not Chicken [Bonus News Poem, Feb 25, 2010]

Why Turkey's Not Chicken [Bonus News Poem, Feb 25, 2010]

“Dated from November 2002, shortly after the AKP won its first, landslide election victory, they include proposals for a number of actions intended to create the conditions for military intervention, including bombing two mosques in Istanbul and "arranging" for a Turkish air force jet to be shot down in a clash with Greece - all to create the conditions for military intervention. “
--Jonathan Head, BBC 20:48 GMT, Thursday, 25 February 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8537775.stm

What man who drove a tank could sleep with branches knocking on his wall,
When Stalin ruled the SSRs and thoughtful folk were worked to bone?
And Kennedy was almost shot by Generals who claimed his balls
Were blue like royal blood. They wanted nuclear war to keep their zone

On global maps from turning red. They much preferred to char a clan,
A town, a land—the map remains pristine and kids might learn the lies
That start the wars to come. Instead, somewhere in Washington, they plan
Another way to bilk those paying tax. Recruited working spies

They lied on television, tried to start a war and yet the Turks,
Not Yanks, prepare to punish those who dodged their duty, shirked their work.
We say America is special. Jerks. We're jerks with friendly quirks.



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One of Us [Today's News Poem, February 21, 2010]

One of Us [Today's News Poem, February 21, 2010]
“At least 40 people have been killed in the floods, and more than 120 others hurt - a "small number" British.“
--BBC, 21:32 GMT, Sunday, 21 February 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8527446.stm

“The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, which has 700 refugee children in foster care, has asked states to prepare to foster more international refugee children like Majok, whose parents either have disappeared or been killed by war or natural disaster. The need is heightened by continuing armed conflicts in Africa and recent events such as the earthquake in Haiti.”
--Russell Contreras, AP, February 21, 2010, 3:41 p.m
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-refugee-orphans,0,268446.story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_boy_hoax

For all the talk of loving fellow humankind,
A hoax balloons when children trap anxiety
We feel as tribal instinct. Cameras, as blind
As us record the sleight of eye society
Maintains is truth. The things we watch are things that count:
An earthquake pricks me less in Haiti—more Malay.
Where coffee's grown, and spice; the scale of death amounts
To higher prices at the store. The kids: away,
By sea--submerged. We grieve as an employer grieves.
The Haitian quake incites the pity workers feel
For beggars. Suffering in them? Let's say it weaves
If only slightly with our vanity's appeal.
To prove that wealth should come to those who spend responsibly:
That any one of us is better: good, demonstrably.


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