| Starpoet Newsletter Vol. VIII, No. XLII |
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| News - Newsletters | |
| Written by Lisa Jain Thompson | |
| Sunday, 14 October 2007 | |
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The
Starpoet
Newsletter
Vol. VIII, No. XLII
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^^\/\/\/\/^^ The wind chills the clouded sky,
Wrapping us in warm linen Inside our house:
No need to seek excuses
For curling beside you in our bed Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2007 C.E.
 __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ My lungs are wracked with cough and phlegm, great spasms of humanity shudder my poet body.
__/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ coughing
Lost Treasures
As I lay here dying
From ccough and stomach jumbled, Moments of living breathe in me,
Flashes of coherent lightning,
Bright pieces of the puzzle.
Between spasms of semi-consciousness
Wracking both lungs and throat, I am teased by my muse slowly dancing,
Undulating in strange pentameter, Shedding images as if they were words.
Sleep escapes me, my mind full ahead,
Capturing bits and fragments of passing magic That struggle to retain both form and memory While lungs distract and quaking body seeks An island of tempestless respite. Lisa Jain Thompson
October 2006 __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ in midst of the coughing
A Cause for Celebration
My partner is sixty-six today:
How strange a thought that would be
When I was only twenty and callow
Decades before she captured me. But neither of us is exactly springlike,
Having weathered multudinous storms,
The reality of love's unrelenting presence
Gives lie to youth's shallow glances. Lisa Jain Thompson
October 2007 __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ At the most basic level, the democracy agenda is not abstract at all.
It is a determination to defend dissidents rotting in airless prisons, and people awaiting execution for adultery or homosexuality, and religious prisoners kept in shipping containers in the desert, and men and women abused and tortured in reeducation camps. It demands activism against sexual slavery, against honor killings, against genital mutilation and against the execution of children, out of the admittedly philosophic conviction that human beings are created in God's image and should not be oppressed or mutilated. -- Michael Gerson
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^^\/\/\/\/^^ deep into the night
Pale Rider
Caressing her from her nightmare,
I stir, the dogs stirs,
She stirs, but does not fully awake,
Still shoreless in the howling infinite. My hand remains touching her shoulder
Until her breathing slows, Her devils retreat, And I can join her in sleep.
Lisa Jain Thompson
October 2007 __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ hollywoodland
Bending Steel
Superman committed suicide,
Splattered his blood against a wall;
Superman broke his neck riding dressage
When his horse refused a jump. I have survived two supermen,
And countless actors and pop stars, Without a horse or a gun or a Hollywood contract,
A poet armed with pen and paper.
Lisa Jain Thompson
October 2007 __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ The democracy agenda goes a step further.
It argues that the most basic human rights will remain insecure as long as they are a gift or concession of the state -- that natural rights must ultimately be protected by self-government. And this ideology asserts that most people in all places, even the poor and oppressed, are capable of controlling their own affairs and determining their own rulers. If this abstract argument seems familiar, it should, because it is the argument of the American founding. -- Michael Gerson
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^^\/\/\/\/^^  __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ at the gallery
Nighthawks
Walking through Hopper,
Shadows to hawks,
The artistic consumers
Scurry on audio tours,
Ignoring two thirds of the paintings
To get to the next numbered post Where a voice will begin Talking in their ear
To tell them what they should know.
Their eyes stare ahead unfocused,
Fixed on the painting before them,
While they hang on every recorded word,
Moving when told, seeing only what
Their electronic master lets them. Lisa Jain Thompson
October 2007 __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ a world, not unlike earth, floating somewhere in space and time
If The Hammer Missed
Outside, in the orange berried pyracantha,
The cardinals fight the mockingbirds for supremacy,
With the robins, the presiding referees. A battle rages, blooded and violent,
For control of the berries' limited supply,
Between the various species of feathered dinosaurs,
Fully plumed in their bright distinction.
In another world, if the asteroid had missed,
I might be watching some small furried mammals
Struggle for control of the few scraps of overripe fruit Left on a backyard tree by my ravenous little egglings.
Lisa Jain Thompson
October 2007
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^^\/\/\/\/^^ Established traditions concerning family, manners
and military honor deserve our respect, because the human race is often wise while the individual is often foolish. -- Michael Gerson __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ the lack of simple answers
Blood and Flesh
Obviously I am against this war
That W has recklessly thrown us, Just as obviously, I would give my life
To save the lives of my friends and co-workers: Army Strong is more than a catch phrase
Developed and tested by advertising executives; We would breathe our last if we thought it meant
Our comrades and country would survive.
I cannot change the course of this war
As long as our commander keeps shut his mind; We cannot disregard a lawful command Without breaking our oaths and our nation's constitution: If you don't understand this basic fact, The rule of law and word, This war was lost, and our country,
Long before the first shot was ever fired.
Lisa Jain Thompson
OCtober 2007 __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ That's all folks.
Time passes,
I cough alone.
__/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^  __/\/\/\/\__
^^\/\/\/\/^^ PEACE
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^^\/\/\/\/^^ |
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