New Europe [Today's News Poem, December 28, 2010]

New Europe [Today's News Poem, December 28, 2010]

As he's pouring the tea, you consider his past;
Not enough to refuse, but enough to consider
The tea might be spiked with a pesticide poison.
You are filled up with honey, with violin dreams,
Though the others are cautious, unmoved by the music
His daughter must rock from the instrument's cradle.
Then the drinks get much stronger—there's laughter and gin
As he takes out mahogany cases with pistols
All nestled inside—they're asleep but will waken.
Then the others all draw out their weapons, from knives
To a phone that's connected to orbiting angels;
A press of a button delivers a missile.
If their fashion's impressive, if leathery shoes
Look enticing; they cut it off soles of a human
Who died in a war that preceded this evening.
They're old chums, they're competitors playing the cards
For advantage and willing to cheat the whole table
To win for an evening; to die in the morning.

"A noisy band of dissenters, many of them economists from outside the Continent, issued a warning: the euro was doomed to struggle, they proclaimed, maybe not immediately but certainly before long. Different countries would pursue such different economic policies, they argued, that it would ultimately place an unbearable strain on the currency and some of its members. "
—LANDON THOMAS Jr., Published: December 28, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/business/global/29euro.html

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NOBODY Escapes Unhurt [Twitter Found Poem, June 27, 2010]

NOBODY Escapes Unhurt [Twitter Found Poem, June 27, 2010]
Tweets+Edits=#twitterfoundpoem

Remember that ordinary citizens
can be used as weapons.
Of greater interest: the Police declared martial law.
a "peaceful" sit down could get nasty fast
and police equipped with the most advanced weapons,
may have to use nuclear force on ordinary citizens.

Learning how to build peace and oneness with
abysmal failure.
burning endangered sea turtles?
the only sound basis for peace.
Police Drive-by shoot the zoo in a super-high-speed racing car
equipped with the most advanced weapons?
the only sound basis for peace.

ordinary citizens can be used as secret weapons.
they can build a bridge to the Moon...
build a nuclear submarine with the most advanced
nuclear weapons, burning endangered mother earth.
the only sound basis for peace?
NOBODY escapes unhurt.

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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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