Starpoet Newsletter Vol. VIII, No. XXVIII

News - Newsletters

Written by Lisa Jain Thompson

Sunday, 08 July 2007

The Starpoet  Newsletter  Vol. VIII, No. XXVIII       __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^ <><><><><>          Fireworks burst above us One ninety along the horizon Cherry bombs and M-80s Echo behind the tree line As pyrotechnics fill the sky With smoke, bright peonies, And artillery titanium We watch it all Hand in hand On Independence Day     Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2007 C. E.                             __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         born on the Fourth while listening to Civil War songs, Sousa, and Ella Fitzgerald         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! -- Thomas Jefferson         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^           johnny has gone for a soldier       The Fourth of Oh Seven               Sing your songs of flags and battles, Play your marches while fireworks explode, Eat your hot dogs and drink your kegs of beer, Bury your dead on a low green hill Beneath history's forgotten white crosses.     We're Yankee Doodle Dandy, Born on the Fourth of July, The real live descendents of revolutionary blood, Free because of the sacrifices of mom and dad Now hidden by our waving flags.     Look homeward, good Americans, We've been on the road two centuries plus, Find the fire, forge the chain, Gather the lillies of the field For our democratic bouquet.     The stars and stripes will not last forever, Rome has fallen, the Nazis and Communists defeated, Liberty requires we guard her zealously, Joining in one voice to sing our praises, Committing our mutual lives so that she will live, The last, brilliant hope of humankind.             Lisa Jain Thompson July 4, 2007       __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^           looking towards 2008   Searching for High Noon     I’m tired of tin-star presidents Wrapping their lips Around patriotic melodies While demanding Someone else’s family Be sent to fight Their ill-defined wars.     We do not need any more Righteous, god-fearing men Who think they are the chosen one; No more untested boys with promise, Educated in the finest eastern schools; No more rich kids on ego Who have a divine link to the truth.     The world is too complex For old school loyalties, Extended boys’ clubs With ties to the right families, Or neo constructionists with their Comforting, self-deluding words: We do not need more Short term, quick return solutions From university MBAs however well papered.       Lisa Jain Thompson July 2007         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^           meditation on a friend's sudden illness       The Road Ahead       Will I collapse from heart failure, Or die slowly from a painfull illness? Will someone kill me, By gun or random accident, Or will I close my eyes And be suddenly no more? Or will I vanish, cell and synapse, While my body goes on without me? Given the choice, I would prefer none of the above.         Lisa Jain Thompson July 2007         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         Hy Zaret     WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) -- Lyricist Hy Zaret, who wrote the words to Unchained Melody, one of the most frequently recorded songs of the 20th century, has died at age 99.  Zaret died at his home Monday, about a month shy of his 100th birthday.   He penned words to many songs and advertising jingles but his biggest hit was ''Unchained Melody,'' written in 1955 for a film called Unchained. It brought Zaret and Alex North, the composer, an Academy Award nomination for best song.   An instrumental version was a No. 1 hit in 1955 for Les Baxter, while a vocal version by Al Hibbler reached No. 3 the same year.   The Righteous Brothers' version, produced by Phil Spector, reached No. 4 on the Billboard chart in 1965, and was a hit again 25 years later when it was used on the soundtrack of the film Ghost.   In all, Unchained Melody has been recorded over 300 times and slaughtered thousands of times each weekend at karaoke bars across the world.       __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         for your pleasure       Chocolate       Soft sweet lips inside Smooth chocolate brown skin, Warm pink flesh beneath Desire eager as mine.     Clothes strip and drop Where we stand, door closed, Covers tear back, anticipation spent, Fingers and tongues explore     Undiscovered country, hunger unnamed, Taste of sugar, scent of must, Seeping onto the sheets Beneath our twisting muscles.     Exhausted, we lie here, Low moans echoing in duet, Bodies still shuddering In the afterglow.       Lisa Jain Thompson July 2007       __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         Life is digital, high definition, full color; Politics, a black and white cathode ray Framed in heavy mahogany atop a wobbly marble base.     LJT         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^          Way Down Yonder in New Orleans     NEW ORLEANS - Lunch trucks serving Latin American fare are appearing around New Orleans, catering to the immigrant laborers who streamed into the city in search of work after Katrina turned much of the place into a construction zone. The trucks are a common sight in barrios from Los Angeles to New York, but controversial in a city still adapting to a threefold increase in Hispanics since Katrina.   Officials in suburban Jefferson Parish recently banned the trucks as eyesores and health hazards. "This is just one more thing we're trying to get under control to make sure we bring our parish back to normalcy."   The mobile luncheonettes are operated mostly by Mexican and Central American families. New Orleans has seen its Hispanic population rise from 15,000 before the storm to an estimated 50,000 now, according to the city. Meanwhile, the city's population has dropped from about 450,000 before the storm to about 250,000 now.     I wonder where all the white, black, and mulatto Lousiannan workers have gone?         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^           a report from the field sure to win friends       Reel Time       The streets are alive With bodies and tourists, Well hung tranny hookers Charging double for their services, Cheap ass muggers Picking low level fruits, Aged grandmothers, crippled beggars, Collecting change For Thunderbird and cigarettes, Pattern rapists trolling their familiars, Selecting the next fetish object For their blow-off. Tonight, tomorrow night, Fucking every night In metropolitan D. C.       Lisa Jain Thompson July 2007         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         Where liberty dwells, there is my country.   -- Benjamin Franklin       __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         just down the corner this time       Ritual              Flowers, teddy bears, A handful of half-filled balloons,   A driver so young, alcohol, Speeding out of control,             Bodies on the blacktop,  Broken Hydrant,   Broken stop sign,     Broken lives,              Teenagers gathering to worship, Tears and hugs, so sad, so sad,   Until the next weekend When they will be out again.               Lisa Jain Thompson July 2007         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         Statistics show that we lose more fools on this day than in all the other days of the year put together. This proves, by the number left in stock, that one Fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so.    -- Mark Twain         __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         starpoet       In This Moment       In the scheme of things, There is little difference Between plants and mankind: We are all sisters under the skin.     We are all carbon atoms and oxygen, Recombinations of the basic pattern, That one existence is superior to the other Is a matter of taste, not science.     We are one with the universe that bore us, Living and dying by the same laws That gave birth to the stars that fill the heavens And formed the green hills on which we build our cities.     We breathe the remnants of our sun's fiery birth, Drink from the rivers planetary evolution provided, Bury ourselves in the rich bottom land That the earth has washed from rock and body.     We are here, at this moment of space and time, Marvelling at the wonder of everything and all, The infinity of possibilities just beyond our grasp, And so we go on, a living part of the starry heavens.       Lisa Jain Thompson July 2007           __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^               __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^         You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. -- Erma Brombeck          __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^              PEACE           __/\/\/\/\__ ^^\/\/\/\/^^     Copyright © Lisa Jain Thompson 1995-2007. Further distribution of this newsletter in its entirety is authorized. Email your letters and postcards or visit her contact page at the Starpoet website.

Last Updated ( Saturday, 07 July 2007 )

 

< Prev		Next >