| Starpoet Newsletter Vol. IX, No. XVI |
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| News - Newsletters | |
| Written by Lisa Jain Thompson | |
| Sunday, 20 April 2008 | |
 The Starpoet Newsletter
Volume IX, No. XVI Having no other planet
We are here Gazing at the only moon We have Our lives
These years No more No less Love always
Everywhere Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2008 C. E.
 Which will it be? Waterboarding, invasive cattle prods, or Jersey Girl?
 Poems, spring, hayfever
starpoet
Transluminal Spaces Life is a trace
Etched on the surface of the universe, A breath of probability repeated endlessly Beneath the war sun of perfect worlds. There is a web of possibility
Connecting galaxy to galaxy, A mathematical certainty Pulsing between the stars. Eyes looking up, watching the heavens,
We are not alone, We are not a mistake; We are here, searching, Where are you? Lisa Jain Thompson walking the edge
Touchstone
Black boy, white boy,
Yellow boy, brown; Red, chocolate, Light olive and maroon. Take one, take them all,
Take their pretty sisters too, We’re lusty, lonely beings All the world around. It is a far, far better thing to participate
Than never to make love at all, But always be smart in choosing your lovers And make sure all your penises wear condoms. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 There's a “vas deferens” between men and women.
-- Isaac Asimov
men and women, women and men
The Men Out There
There are men out there,
Men who are indistinguishable From any other well-dressed man, Men who think nothing of Taking what they want from women, Men who force themselves on young women, Old women, women walking alone on the street Or jogging down the path in twilight. If these men were evil,
We would take not of their daily evils, Mark them as a dangerous person, Set them apart from all other men As someone to watch. But, day to day, among other men,
They slip unnoticed through fields Of hail and hearty bravado, Just another one of the guys Until their moment arrives And they are alone with their victims. Women do as women have done always, Life goes on, children must be raised,
Husbands must be satisfied and coddled, We must pretend that love and honor Rule our slow crawl across the world, That all men are born good, all men are brave, And men and women are equal before the law Even as physical reality intrudes Into the differences between male and female, Between some few men and all the women Who pass before their resentful gaze. Boys will be boys and men alone can change them,
Teach them what men must do, how men must act, Instruct them on the uses of power, The restraints of civilization, The difference between our animal natures And our better angels, Between unbounded need and the rights of women, Or the rogues and the ill-mannered will make the world Less gentile than it needs to be, Unsafe for anyone except the strong and well-armed. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 blasphemy
Coming with Jesus
Jesus told me not to join
Any of those book bound Christians When he was just a Jew boy And I, a young slut. He was well hung for a lad of fourteen,
All neatly circumcised and nicely cut, So I took him, twice in fact, And he promised he would see me again. So it was, so it shall be;
If you don’t believe me, ask him. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 Robots in History
1495 Leonardo da Vinci has the idea of a "mechanical knight". 1738 French inventor Jacques de Vaucanson builds a mechanical duck. 1921 The word "robot" coined by Czech artist Josef Capek, from the Czech word for "compulsory labour". 1942 Isaac Asimov sets down the Three Laws of Robotics:
1950s Unimation introduces first commercial robots (for car factories). 1969 Victor Scheinman, a Stanford AI lab student, creates the Stanford Arm, a predecessor of all robot arms. 1998 The Furby robot is a bestseller. 1999 Sony releases its AIBO robot pet. 2000 Honda introduces its humanoid Asimo robot. 2003 Nasa launches robotic Mars explorers, Spirit and Opportunity.
baseball
Early Season Blues
Young blonde synching on her video,
Gray skies drifting overhead, Just another long Saturday morning, Waiting for the ballgame to begin. The stadium won’t be open for hours,
The batting cage stands silent, I sit here at my laptop computer Composing verses to kill the time. Country music playing on the cable,
Counting down to number one, Just another long Saturday morning, Getting ready for the ballpark. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008  rock and roll as seen from the golden gate
Sweet as a Brownskin Woman
Lord, I don’t need no Mercedes-Benz,
No twenty room mansion, No flashy diamond rings, Just give me another century To see everything I need, Enough time to write all my words about The great wonders we will unearth As we set sail across the infinite sea Of stars and galaxies before us. If not my footsteps upon that shoreline,
Let me witness our tentative explorations, The fragile stations we boldly construct On Mars and the moons of giants. I’m not scared of dying, Lord,
And I don’t really mind, But I humbly must beseech you, Just give me a little more time, A century will do, a few hundred years,
A trifle when compared to all eternity, And if you see fit to grant me this, I promise I won’t mention you to anyone. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 A woman is like a dresser
some man is always ramblin through her drawers -- Robert Johnson
surfing the news
Three Girls for Every Boy We're going to West Texas 'cause it's three to one,
You know we're going to Ranch Zion, gonna have some fun, Yeah we're going to San Angelo, 'cause it's three to one, We're yearning for Zion, gonna have some fun, Three girls for every boy. You see they never leave the church house
‘Cause there’s always somethin’ goin’ on, ( You know they’re either out prayin’ Or they got a party goin’ on, ( Well, with three swingin' honeys for every guy All you gotta do is just wink your eye Yeah we're going to West Texas 'cause it's three to one,
You know we're going to Ranch Zion, gonna have some fun, Yeah we're going to San Angelo, 'cause it's three to one, We're yearning for Zion, gonna have some fun, Three girls for every… Three girls for every boy. Lisa Jain Thompson April 2008 I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful,
And damaging to all things American. But if I were twenty-two with a great body, It would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic, And a progressive religious experience. -- Shelley Winters
sermonesque
An Echo Along the Cobblestone
There is more to life than nailing a glory note Life is not intended to be a wallow through our victimhood,
A whining, keening wail that the world refuses To treat us as we would expect. Fair is fair is fair is fair But there is no well situated referee to correct the line calls, No comforting, forgiving mother to salve our tribulations And calm the waters that swirl around us. No one can set our compass points,
No will direct us but our own, No blame assessed but to ourselves, No fault but in our souls: The world and universe care not at all Should our meager accommodations prove Somewhat less than we would anticipate. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008  starpoet again
Far Down the Bottomless Blue
A most exquisite ship,
Strong and powerful, Her guns engaged Off Brest and A purpose built ship
To ride the tides and currents Of the light filled abyss Between the planets. Consider the Mary Rose,
Golden she was, filled with hope, Carrying the remains of 300 men, Lost in the flow between the stars. Keenly felt, generations yet,
A ship, a woman, a story often told By those left among the shallows In civilizations ancient and unbuilt. A most perfect, most exquisite ship,
Precisely elegant in design, Swallowed whole by time’s quick ravage Until antique fable alone remains. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008   Copyright © Lisa Jain Thompson 1995-2008. Further distribution of this newsletter in its entirety is authorized. Email your letters and postcards or visit her contact page at the Starpoet website |
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