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Showing posts with label The New York Times. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The New York Times. Show all posts

Monday, May 03, 2010

Graveyard Launch to Heaven [Today's News Poem (Sonnet), May 3, 2010]

Graveyard Launch to Heaven [Today's News Poem (Sonnet), May 3, 2010]

“The superweeds could temper American agriculture’s enthusiasm for some genetically modified crops. Soybeans, corn and cotton that are engineered to survive spraying with Roundup have become standard in American fields. However, if Roundup doesn’t kill the weeds, farmers have little incentive to spend the extra money for the special seeds.”
– William Neuman and Andrew Pollack, The New York Times, May 3, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html?hpw

The rats will feast on scraps—they'll lick their snouts;
And cats in turn will dine on rodent meat.
Yet both combine their gristle; ground about
In vats, encased as sausages we eat.
We've solved the puzzle-knot of roots with saws
We pulled from stones. A prophecy declared
A greater beast—not red in tooth and claw;
But rather just a midwife who's prepared
To cut the prize away from dying wombs.
The buffalo is white—she's made of bone
And frolics near the graves. The moon's in bloom.
The ragweed, squirrels and dogs collect near stones
That mark the victory of cunning weeds
That chase the moon with fuel the mother bleeds.



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Friday, April 16, 2010

Stay Tuned [Today's News Sonnet, April 16, 2010]

Stay Tuned [Today's News Sonnet, April 16, 2010]
“Former President Bill Clinton warned of a slippery slope from angry anti-government rhetoric to violence like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, saying "the words we use really do matter."”
– The Associated Press. (AP) – 2 hours ago 5:28pm, PST
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTuEGhEGZTWdpcLoQeprQNF72AigD9F4DBB00
“There Atambayev dropped a bombshell, revealing the provisional government was preparing to launch a "special operation" to grab the deposed but still defiant President, Kurmanbek Bakiyev. ”
– Steve Herman, Voice of America 16 April 2010
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Inside-the-Revolution-A-VOA-Dairy-from--91085179.html
“"People are here because they feel their freedoms have been infringed upon," Miller said. "The tea party is a venue to let our politicians know the people will exercise their right to free speech, our right to peaceful assembly. We believe in the Founding Fathers and the principles they wrote into the Constitution."”
– Michelle Dupler, Tri-City Herald, Friday, Apr. 16, 2010
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/04/16/978390/tri-city-tea-partiers-seek-revolution.html
“The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45.”
– Kate Zernike & Megan Thee-Brenan, The New York Times, April 14, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html?src=me&ref=homepage

The New York Times reports another mob
From terror groups the government has banned,
Attacked police and rescuers to rob
The damaged buildings. Riot-bots were fanned
Throughout the city late last night—stay in
And wait for further news... but first a tale
That's great for kids. “The traitor was his kin.
He served his country. Now his book's on sale.”
Stay tuned for what to do when terror strikes
At school. 'Reports at Two' might save your life.
The Internet's to blame for terror spikes:
A doctor-preacher calls it 'Freedom-Strife.'
His show at nine explains how prayer can clash
And win against a mob or nuclear flash.

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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Last Contact [News Poem March 30, 2010]

Last Contact [News Poem March 30, 2010]
“But over the last 20 years, private companies and academic researchers have claimed patents on more than 4,300 human genes — about 20 percent of all genes in the human body.”
--Jim Dwyer, The New York Times, March 30, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/nyregion/31about.html

The animals of planet three
Were brutes, and yet an entity
Comprised of them, but more like us—
A being with whom we could discuss
The means of trade with primitives—
Emerged from parts that squirm and live.

The natives called them government;
Or business—what they really meant
To say was sentience exists
In groups for them—the rest resist
But lack the power, so they find
Themselves all trapped in hidden binds.

We bargained for the darker ones
To work in mines near far off suns;
And ate the meat of lighter skins:
Delicious! It was clean and thin.
Our chefs prepared them as fillets.
We took their genes and flew away.

Those entities are better off
Without their poor at feeding troughs.
Besides, they treat their beasts the same:
And never had a moral claim—
For dignity's for higher life
And unused parts are tasty. Rife.

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Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Hippies Have it Made: The Squares Obtain New Trades [Today's News Poem, March 27, 2010]

The Hippies Have it Made: The Squares Obtain New Trades [Today's News Poem, March 27, 2010]

“Tens of thousands of red-shirted protesters threatened to force soldiers from the historic heart of Thailand's capital Saturday, raising tensions in what so far has been a nonviolent bid to bring down the government.”
--KINAN SUCHAOVANICH (AP) – 9 hours ago at 12:35pm PST
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3j-vAVG1fg3kEfnogTiH8_4EXvwD9EMTJPG0
“Tea Party groups like FreedomWorks recognize that they are benefiting from the labor of many people who have been hit hard economically. But its chairman, the former House majority leader Dick Armey, argued that their ranks will remain strong — and connected — even as members find work.”
--Kate Zernike, The New York Times, March 27, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/us/politics/28teaparty.html?hp
““It’s no worse than alcohol,” said Ms. Kutilek, 30, an administrator at Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco. “Drunk people get really belligerent. I don’t know anybody who gets belligerent on marijuana. They just get chill.””
--Jesse McKinley, The New York Times, March 25, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/us/26pot.html

The madness mobs provoke is only matched
With blandness slobs invoke. The game is hatched
Inside a game of brinks. They tote their greed:
Deride a claim that thinks. Or vote for weed:
A lifestyle (pair with work). Or dare the cops—
In strife-bile, share death's lurk—they cleaned with mops
A pool of protest blood. The teabag punks—
The ghouls of foe-blessed crud—are fascist skunks,
With shirts of browner shades of protest hue.
They'll hurt: they're clowns with blades. Our blood is due.

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Thursday, March 25, 2010

Flashback Flash Forward [News Poem March 25 2010]

Flashback Flash Forward [News Poem March 25 2010]
http://toylit.blogspot.com/2010/03/flashback-flash-forward-news-poem-march.html
“In the flash mob on Saturday, groups of teenagers were chanting “black boys” and “burn the city,” bystanders said.”
--Ian Urbina, The New York Times, March 24, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/us/25mobs.html?hp

“1. Sprint poised to launch first Mobile WiMAX handset… 2. … but rivals hit back with a raft of LTE deals 4. More spectrum, less regulation 5. Mobile healthcare the key market opportunity...”
-John Levett, Juniper Research, Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:33:56 GMT
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/top-five-hot-topics-at-ctia-wireless-2010,1221809.shtml

“Black boys burn the city.”
Smartphones film the riots.
News reprints the ditty:
Headlines call for quiet.

'Bums demand a handout,'
Brownshirts say with rifles.
Teabag goons expand doubt:
Killing foes for trifles.

Bandwidth! Give me rapid
Rates of transfer: faster
Forms of ever vapid,
Self-induced disaster.

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Faithful Argus: All Three Parts:

Faithful Argus Gets a New Master [News Poem, March 20 2010]

“The authorities in southern New Jersey said Saturday that they had arrested a 16-year-old boy for activating a public-address system at a Wal-Mart store earlier in the week and ordering 'all black people' to leave.The boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, was charged with bias and intimidation and harassment in connection with the episode last Sunday. If convicted, he could face up to a year in a juvenile detention center, officials said.”
--Kirk Semple and Nate Schweber, The New York Times, March 20 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/nyregion/21walmart.html

Day 2
I took this job because the chinks all cheat—
In league with jews and blacks to take the jobs
Of honest men like me. Today, I'll greet
Those shoppers equally: I'll let them rob
The kykes who really own this warehouse store:
I'm just a victim in this racial war.

Month 18
The boss, he praised my cheerful, careful work.
I held my tongue about the raise I want:
To ask might risk his ire—I'm not a jerk—
A teammate ought not seek what others flaunt.
I'd rather ask for extra time, not pay:
Or else this job as well might go away.

Year 8:
The panic did not end until they caught
The kid who risked what others—we—had earned.
Rebellion's tokens: prison's what it bought,
And now the chance to know what I have learned.
Obey and follow rules or else you'll fail;
For men like us it's slavery or jail.

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Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Paean to Zero

Paean to Zero [Today's News Poem, March 9, 2010]

““How many people would like a proposal that holds insurance companies more accountable?””
--President Obama, quoted by Helene Cooper and David M. Herszenhorn, The New York Times, March 8, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/health/policy/09health.html?hpw

“The Senate on Tuesday cleared a hurdle to extending unemployment benefits and health-care subsidies for the jobless until year's end, the latest modest bipartisan success on jobs and the economy.”
--Naftali Bendavid, The Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704784904575111932101937268.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Enumerate the many traits
Of zero: emptiness we count.
A means to lock the many rates
Of nothing into meaning's mount.

A decimal to part the naught
From value. Commas place the rank
Of triplet nothings—lined-up aughts—
That, with some law, can fund a bank.

A dead soul fetches something still—
And better that we never pay
What's sure to be a deadly bill.
And best? The debt for kids at play

Right now, will teach them gratitude
In ways a kid can get: we're first!
Don't coddle them, bad attitudes
Are made by sating whiny thirsts.

A promise made of nothing keeps
So long as faith remains its worth
Is more than discrete parts; it leaps
From voids, to banks, to shipping berths.

The world depends on empty brands
To animate production's cause:
Without false promises, the hands
Of workers turn to angry jaws

And bite the feeding hand of Smith:
The money's value's just a myth.

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