| Starpoet Newsletter Vol. IX, No. XVII |
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| Written by Lisa Jain Thompson | |
| Saturday, 26 April 2008 | |
 The Starpoet Newsletter
Volume IX, No. XVII if ever I remember
the first I saw you standing on those church steps I wonder how you knew what I did not until years had passed
and I could no longer deny my love for you
Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2008 C. E.
 Gross National Product measures neither the health of our children,
the quality of their education, nor the joy of their play. It measures neither the beauty of our poetry, nor the strength of our marriages. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It measures neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our wit nor our courage, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worth living. It can tell us everything about our country, except those things that make us proud to be a part of it. -- Robert F. Kennedy
ending April with sunshine and flowers, the great circle continues: the earth moves and life goes on.
meanwhile, love and all that, riffing off Sappho and myself
Night Passage
In the middle of the night,
When I lie awake, Listening to your breath,
I marvel at how we got here, So surburban and townhouse, Two midlle-aged women, Puzzling our ancient ways Through the outyears. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 giving due
The Ancient of Rifts
We have almost died a dozen times or more,
Yet we survive; The world has ended every few thousand years, But we are here. Great civilizations have fallen and rose,
Plagues and famine ravaged nation and continent, We moved on, out bred them, Then returned to speculate over the ruins. Life goes on, we follow
Until our dancing days are done, The music stops, And we vanish without a word. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote:
"In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God." -- Robert F. Kennedy
political incorrectness
Distractions It is not enough to understand, or to see clearly.
The future will be shaped in the arena of human activity, by those willing to commit their minds and their bodies to the task. -- Robert Kennedy The indicted fixer, the racist reverend,
The unrepentant terrorist turned political supporter, The bitter working class clinging to guns and gods Rather than joining the class struggle against the oppressors, All these are flaws in the perception of the electorate, Not the immaculate conceptions of the candidate Who sprung fully formed out of the chaos like some Swaddling wrapped deity destined to overthrow his father And take his righteous place in heaven, supreme overall. All questions are distractions from this noble cause, Attempts by the oppressors who had the temerity To oppose the one, true god whose personal beliefs Are less important than the rhetoric of expediency, Whose relationship with impenitent terrorist bombers Who still believe they did not bomb enough, Is not seen as a seen as a proper matter for discussion, Whose self-congratulatory superiority hides a fine mix Of non-profit cultural attitude and uncaring political cynicism. Behold the nominee, the next pretender to the office Where Washington and Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt Once hung their respectable cloth coats. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 All do not develop in the same manner, or at the same pace.
Nations, like men, often march to the beat of different drummers, and the precise solutions of the United States can neither be dictated nor transplanted to others. What is important is that all nations must march toward increasing freedom; toward justice for all; toward a society strong and flexible enough to meet the demands of all its own people, and a world of immense and dizzying change. -- Robert F. Kennedy
last saturday it was and we just done with our pedicures
The April Sun
The breeze twists through the outdoor tables
Where we sit drinking coffee and latte; A warm sun competes for our attention Against the murmur of women’s voices Discussing children while passing a baby Arm to arm. One after another, dogs walking their owners,
Pause to smell the scented air, Evaluating the local news before walking on; A man in a car slows almost to a stop While he compares us to his favorite fantasy. We all pretend not to see a thing,
Drinking our cooling coffee as we speculate On the grandeur of his armament. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 self admissions
Prickly Things
I’ve always asked too many questions
For life to be easy for my bosses and teachers; My mind transport too quick and distant, Living with me is not a walk in the park. Would this not be so, I would not be me, An option I could never consider: Try your best to imagine, the poet at ten Before she learned how not to offend Those with whom she must contend If she wanted to get hold of the keys. Lisa Jain Thompson The free way of life proposes ends, but it does not prescribe means.
-- Robert F. Kennedy
The Mensa Invitational
The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Each is an artificial word with only one letter altered to form a real word.
1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly. 3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people, that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The Bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future. 4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time. 5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high. 6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it. 7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late. 8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness. 9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.) 10 Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right ? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer. 11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you. 12. Glibido: All talk and no action. 13. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. 14. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web. 15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out. 16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating. 17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole. Now that we all feel smugly better about ourselves ...
Like it or not we live in interesting times.
They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged — will ultimately judge himself — on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort. -- Robert F. Kennedy
 showing my original field of study before I outgrew its confines
With Maidens Overwrought
Truth is not beauty,
Nor beauty, truth; Neither can beauty be ignored Or pretended not to exist. All things are not equal,
Nor does law make them so, Beauty greases the wheel That makes the axis spin. I would be smart
Before I was beautiful, But I would not decline If given the opportunity. I have lived with my looks
Through six decades now, The eyes, the dimples That appear when I smile, The full lips, the olive skin
That gives me passage in trouble, The wit, the innocent look That forgives me many sins. I have used all of these and more
To facilitate my needs, to ease My passage between rocky shoals, To slip through the world unharmed. That does not make me more equal
Than anyone else around me, But these gifts and a handful more, Let me face the world well armed. Truth is not beauty, nor beauty, truth,
But that does not mean In the scheme of things That beauty does not have its uses. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
-- Robert F. Kennedy
other voices, other dreams, other muses to take us home again
Between a Conundrum and a Dichotomy Here’s the thing, here’s the thing,
Here’s the thing it’s an abnormal state For someone to be in. My legs are coyly folded under me,
My hair tightly pulled back from my face, My makeup applied to hide my tiredness. I laugh, a sudden winning laugh,
A laugh for all purposes, Some defensive, some cute, Some lusty, some fake, Some calculated to woo you, Some to charm you, Some because I like to laugh, Some to underline The absurdity of the situation As if, if there is a joke, The truth is, I get the joke. In this ornate Parisian room,
I am no threat to anyone, I’m not the woman you think I am, I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. The image is the message,
Incandescent emptiness Wrapped in a feather boa, Insistent and seductive, Even as my mind wanders. I am alone. Trapped.
Resigned. Defiant. Distant. Friendly and Knowing. So many people have said so much, Who really cares anymore? A warm heart, a sense of humor,
A poet who can look good In a photograph now and then, Guileless and shrewd, Wounded with melancholy. I can be plain and simple,
Not averse to luxury, A fun girl, even when working, -- Except when working -- Willing to eat French Fries In front of others, sip Courvoisier Or drink Blue Moon with a twist of orange. I will answer your questions
With a particular honesty, Giving nothing away other than I know How to do an interview without actually Responding to your questions. If you want eager, I shall be eager,
If you want pleasant, I shall be pleasant, I will not give you any trouble, I’m not bitter, I am happy, and I Want to be nice, not nasty, I find things have a way Of turning out for the best If you leave them, if you let them, If you work it out on your own. Everyone is always passing judgment,
Everyone wants to categorize, I really will try not to make you uneasy By slipping too far outside the box, But here’s the thing, there’s no guarantees, Because whether you like it or not, I’m really quite good at my job, Whatever that may be. Lisa Jain Thompson
April 2008 What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists
is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents. -- Robert F. Kennedy
the circle comes full
Primi Piatti
We sleep, we dream,
We wake again To chase the sun Across bright days. To breathe, to live,
To love, to die, ‘Round and around Around good Earth. This life we lead,
These tears we cry, Sweet bottom land, Dear family. 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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