Uranium Fruit [Today's News Poem, May 24, 2010]

Uranium Fruit [Today's News Poem, May 24, 2010]

I am aching. The fullness of what
I've become is unstable and soon
I'll expand and fulfill the design
That the makers—who mined and then cut
Me for centrifuge—spun as a boon
From my essence. To them I define
The philosophy stones can command.
You may call me forbidden—the fruit
From a tree, but I'm nothingness. Dense,
I'm a paragon, truly, of grand
Aspirations. To horde, not to shoot.
As a treasure, I'm vaulted and tense
For the trigger—the launch—I am fissile:
The epiphany waits in a missile.

“A Defense Department spokesman in Washington, Bryan Whitman, said the naval exercises would be conducted “in the near future” and would be aimed at improving the ability of South Korea and the United States to detect enemy submarines and halt banned shipments of nuclear materials. The announcement was the Pentagon’s first concrete response in the escalating tensions between North and South Korea over what South Koreans have called the deliberate sinking by the North of one of their warships two months ago.”
– Choe Sang-Hun and Thom Shanker, The New York Times, May 24, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/world/asia/25korea.html

“The United States will review Iran's proposal to ship enriched uranium to Turkey and plans to consult with France and Russia on the next steps, the U.S. State Department said Monday. ”
– Natasha Mozgovaya and DPA, Haaretz, Latest update 22:22 24.05.10
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/u-s-to-review-iran-uranium-swap-proposal-1.292026

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Brinksmen Fear the Nightstalkers [Today's News Poem, May 2, 2010]

Brinksmen Fear the Nightstalkers [Today's News Poem, May 2, 2010]

“A global nuclear conference that opens Monday is shaping up as a showdown between Iran and the United States, with each side jockeying for allies in the escalating dispute over the Islamic republic's nuclear program.”
– Mary Beth Sheridan and Colum Lynch, The Washington Post, Monday, May 3, 2010 edition; May 2, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/02/AR2010050203144.html

Yes, each of us makes his own way through the gutter
Evading the searchlight that scans through the night time:
We're stalking and weaving through hedges and gardens
Until we are caught by the beam—then we sputter
“This game is not fair.” Do we know it's to war prime
The boys of the city, whose fathers must harden
Their lambs into rams so the angels pass over
Their doors—to delay the last rest in the clover?

And later we jump off the buildings and fences
Each daring the others to jump ever higher.
Defeating the terror of gangs or pursuers—
We rattled ourselves to control our fear senses.
The brothers would mock my delays—I'm the crier.
We judged both the others, as pre-teen reviewers.

My best friend was Peter—he'd always outdo me
In drinking and smoking; in fucking—in winning.
A champ of a wrestler—the king of his high school
With motorbike charm and the guitar to match, he
Ignored me for years—I don't blame him for thinning
Our friendship back then, I was fat and a loud fool

Who dreamed in the daylight of searchlights in Berlin
Where dreamers of freedom were shot—they were fleeing.
While Peter discovered the pleasures of poppy,
I pleasured myself with my books as a shut-in.
His brother discovered the body—he's screaming,
And screaming I've heard since that day. I won't copy
The mode of his sorrow. I've learned to stop crying—
I've learned to be fearful: the brave ones die trying.

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Drowning in a Sea of Chum [Today's News Poem, April 27, 2010]

Drowning in a Sea of Chum [Today's News Poem, April 27, 2010]

“Chávez has nurtured economic, energy and political ties with Tehran in response to what he terms aggression from the US "empire". The two governments have not announced any military accords.”
– Rory Carroll, The Guardian, 27 April 2010 19.09 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/27/iran-venezuela-pentagon-report

“"You must not relax, in order not to permit what is happening in some republics, what recently happened in Kyrgyzstan," he said. "This is what we don't need. If somebody is applauding and rejoicing, it's not the Kyrgyz people."
Lukashenko was referring to an April 7 uprising that ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and killed at least 85 people in the Central Asian nation.”
– Reuters Tuesday, April 27, 2010; 12:52 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042702779.html

“Thai protesters forced a shutdown of Bangkok's busy elevated train system Tuesday and promised to expand their street demonstrations, escalating weeks of anti-government demonstrations that have paralyzed much of the capital.”
– RAVI NESSMAN (AP) – 3 hours ago as of 12:18pm PST
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3j-vAVG1fg3kEfnogTiH8_4EXvwD9FBG6AO0

Bitterness rejects the notion
Life exists upon an ocean
Slurping all with tides of drowning.
Climb atop the chum—he's frowning
Anyway—he's going down, so
Grab the branch with honey drops, though
Frenemies demand a share—no!

Bitterness inhales the smoggy
Air until its lungs are soggy.
Blackened, choking, still it's breathing—
Gasping true, it's screaming—wheezing.
Cleanliness: one breath undoing
Years of phlegm; to stop eschewing
Promises of life renewing?

Bitterness rejects the notion.

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A One Way Trip on Virgin Galactic [Bonus News Poem, March 7, 2010]

A One Way Trip on Virgin Galactic (or Tricks in Post-Apocalyptic Space) [Bonus News Poem, March 7, 2010]

“Iran's Defense Ministry introduced a new domestically-manufactured cruise missile that will significantly improve the deterrence capabilities of the Iranian military forces, the local satellite Press TV reported on Sunday.”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-03/07/c_13200992.htm

“SpaceShipTwo will be unveiled after darkness has fallen over the Mojave Desert to the sound of a space-themed anthem from Britain’s biggest DJs, Above & Beyond. Fittingly titled “Buzz” the track will sample Buzz Aldrin’s original moon landing dialogue. Following the naming by Governors Richardson and Schwarzenegger, the DJs will also perform an exclusive set at the celebration cocktail party which will follow and feature the first ever IceBar in the desert hosted by Absolut and the world famous Swedish IceHotel. All the guests will be protected from the desert cold by designer space jackets supplied by PUMA. Finally, to close off the celebrations, all the guests will have the opportunity to view the stunning night skies using specialist telescopes supplied by Ron Dantowitz of the Clay Observatory whose unique tracking cameras followed SS1 into space during the epic flights of 2004.”
http://www.zimbio.com/Sir+Richard+Branson/articles/6Oa9PZL7ymz/Virgin+Galactic+SpaceShipTwo+1st+Commercial

“Cyrus is also working on an album of her own, which she said will be out later this summer.”
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1633359/story.jhtml

The royalties won't pay for air
Much less a berth, a bite to eat—
I've waited long to touch your hair,
To paint the nails on pretty feet

Since puberty. I've thought of you...
I'm sorry does that make you shy?
I'm lonely. Since the earth's been through,
I've cursed this metal in the sky.

Celebrities like you survived
To love your fans (for price, by bit);
Though true on earth, with wealth you thrived,
In space you live by famous slit.

Your wealth on earth is molten slag
In space, your skills? They have no use.
On earth they might have let you drag
Them down, but here you'd best be loose.

Your refuge is our prison now
And servant's master, switching bows;
Now act as if it's Oscar-night
And come to me for Tantric-rites.



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War By Wires and Liars [Today's News Poem, Feb 11, 2010]

War By Wires and Liars [Today's News Poem, Feb 11, 2010]

“Germany's ruling coalition is considering using state-owned development bank KfW to buy Greek government bonds to ease Greece's financing problems...”

--Matthias Sobolewski and Patricia Uhlig, Thu Feb 11, 2010 8:21am EST

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBAT00511520100211

“The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, was quick to dismiss Iran's claim Thursday that it has produced higher-enriched uranium, calling it nothing more than "speechifying." But the record shows a series of intelligence reports spanning almost 20 years that have warned of a nuclear Iran. ”

--Greg Palkot and the Associated Press

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/11/iran-nuclear-weapons-history-predictions/

“President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. ”

http://projects.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/

"we recommend that the Secretary [of Defense] task both the Under Secretaries of Defense for Policy and Intelligence, and the Joint Staff, working with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to create a tiger team to lay out courses of action and a way ahead for establishing a standing strategic surprise/deception entity. Once the initial work has been completed, all parts of the interagency should be brought into this effort."

http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2010-10-Capability_Suprise_Vol_2.pdf

No, atoms aren't the only building block
Requiring nuclear-force to bind what seeks
To free itself. Take enterprise and stock:
Those rogues—like particles— need wise techniques
To bind what otherwise would break—subvert—
Conjoined alliance. Murder's still a crime
So bind them tight with lies and let covert
And able agents sway the greedy slime:
So war becomes a suicide. And wealth?
That war by other means. With trade, the way
To kill is starve the foreigner by stealth,
And take his land, her kids: they're simply prey—
A profit center needs the casualties.
Without the gore—no war PTSDs.



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