Neo-Viking Funeral [News Poem, April 22, 2010]

Neo-Viking Funeral [News Poem, April 22, 2010]

“Police say a man was killed after getting hit by a train at Muni's Castro Station around 4:30 p.m. Thursday.”
– The Associated Press, 10:08pm PDT, April 22, 2010
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14942312?nclick_check=1

Some bathroom tiles surround this trench.
We passengers coagulate
Between the train and subway bench;
An ozone armpit strangulates

My dainty nose. I feel too faint
To stand and yet we chase a door.
Inspired by subway smells of taint
My tie constricts—I fall to fours.

My face erupts—I ride this creek
Of piss upon a log of shit—
And you demand I breathe? You reek!
Just take your CPR and split.

Just save yourselves—destroy my suit
Before a bum discovers it.
From drunk, he'll rise to business coot:
From begging bowl, to throats he'll slit.

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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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The Bridge of Babel [Warmup News Poem, Feb 28, 2010]

The Bridge of Babel [Warmup News Poem, Feb 28, 2010]

“"Starbucks is a special target because it's from the hippie West Coast, and a lot of dedicated consumers who pay $4 for coffee have expectations that Starbucks would ban guns. And here they aren't," said John Bruce, a political science professor at the University of Mississippi who is an expert in gun policy.”
– GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer, Sunday, February 28, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/28/state/n105757S94.DTL&tsp=1
In olden times, a staff or spear
Weren't optional. The murder rate?
It topped all other deaths. The fear
Of states of nature—bloody fates—
Inspired the law and other tools
With which to tame our slaughter-ways
Like Bruegel's Babel: built by fools
Who loathed to give abstractions praise
And much preferred to raise themselves
By corridor and minaret
Above the swords. Commanding shelves
And astrolabes they thought made pets
Of stars, they charted course through space.
Departments manage mobs of folk,
Disarmed by this machine of arms,
This tower signaling our cause:
“Defer to experts. Stay on farms.
Disarm yourself. Obey our laws.”
Through habit most still don this yoke,
But others keenly feel its choke
And fight against a false facade.
This normalcy is rather odd.



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