Newsflash:
Saturday, 25 August 2007 06:28
Last Updated on Saturday, 25 August 2007 21:02
The
Starpoet
Newsletter
Vol. VIII, No. XXXV
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Outside the sun bares down
Heating the watered air
Until it becomes a gelatin
Until it becomes a gelatin
Sucked into the lungs
Like some chemically enhanced
Like some chemically enhanced
Non-dairy milkshake
That assaults each breath
With a dense oxygenless gas
Tasting of the worst excessesd
Of the last millenium
Of the last millenium
We retreat inside
Safe in our technology
From the angry August storms
Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2007 C.E.
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Calendered so far in August:
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Rear ended by a bus
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Birthday
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Cracked cylinder blows engine of rear ended car causing small oil fire
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Floods in Oklahoma and Ohio
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Gypsy Kings at Wolf Trap
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Mozart's Magic Flute at Wolf Trap
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Raise shows up in paycheck
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Maryland Rennaissance Festival
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checking in
E
The sweet taste of estrogen
Lingers on my tongue,
Rushes through my veins
To flood my brain with clarity,
To flood my brain with clarity,
Washing over synapse,
Calming each connection
As it flows through my body
Into my poet's mind and words,
As it flows through my body
Into my poet's mind and words,
Freeing me to go where no one
Since Tiresias has ventured,
Where no woman but Sappho has spoke
Since Tiresias has ventured,
Where no woman but Sappho has spoke
The lines my voice now sings.
Remember me,
As I do her.
As I do her.
Lisa Jain Thompson
August 2007
August 2007
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looking out
Snapshot
The lilly petals arch backwards
In preparation for their death fall,
Black spot suggests the Lincoln Rose
Will race the tomatoes for extinction.
Will race the tomatoes for extinction.
A month before the autumnal equinox,
Summer fluctuates between fall and sunstroke.
The dog greets all with explosive undergrowth
As he readies himself for frost-proof insulation,
As he readies himself for frost-proof insulation,
Unlike the primates who feed him nightly
And clothe themselves with unnecessary expense.
And clothe themselves with unnecessary expense.
Lisa Jain Thompson
August 2007
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Following the Democratic victory last November,
panicked Republican senators began rifling the thesaurus
to find exactly the right phrase
to express exactly the right nuance
to establish exactly the right distance
from the president's Iraq policy,
while Murtha Democrats searched
for exactly the right legislative ruse
to force a retreat from Iraq without appearing to do so.
panicked Republican senators began rifling the thesaurus
to find exactly the right phrase
to express exactly the right nuance
to establish exactly the right distance
from the president's Iraq policy,
while Murtha Democrats searched
for exactly the right legislative ruse
to force a retreat from Iraq without appearing to do so.
-- Charles Krauthammer
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starpoet
The Children No One Sees
(Stars Enough and Time)
(Stars Enough and Time)
Bright kids have no childhood
-- You know who they are --
The ones who are always responsible,
-- You know who they are --
The ones who are always responsible,
Who speak in full, adult sentences
By the time they or six or seven,
By the time they or six or seven,
The ones who ask the questions
That have no answers
-- If there are any answers,
They are ones you cannot understand –
-- If there are any answers,
They are ones you cannot understand –
Or cut uncomfortably into areas
You wish to avoid and certainly not discuss
With a person inhabiting the body
You wish to avoid and certainly not discuss
With a person inhabiting the body
Of an eight year old child.
Bright kids are islands,
Alone within themselves,
Alone within themselves,
Separated from the sea of childhood
By thoughts and needs that go beyond
The playground games and alphabet blocks
By thoughts and needs that go beyond
The playground games and alphabet blocks
That form the core of pre-school life
And the structured repetition of no child left behind,
Left to find their way between phalanxes
Of impervious adults and educational correctness
That tells them everything has its season
And theirs is not now and might never be
That tells them everything has its season
And theirs is not now and might never be
Unless they shut up and let the grown-ups talk.
Bright kids are the aliens among us,
Evolutionary variations of form and function
That stretch the fundamental character of specie,
Forcing them develop effective camouflage
To avoid the catcalls and physical threats
Evolutionary variations of form and function
That stretch the fundamental character of specie,
Forcing them develop effective camouflage
To avoid the catcalls and physical threats
That form the core of childhood existence
For all those who limp, or have a birth defect,
Or have eyes a different color than their classmates
-- the necessity of concealment from uneasy adults
Who might seize them for experimentation
-- the necessity of concealment from uneasy adults
Who might seize them for experimentation
Or hide them away in special schools
That serve some governmental program necessity
Or teachers who might parade them before the voters
As this year’s gifted educational product
That serve some governmental program necessity
Or teachers who might parade them before the voters
As this year’s gifted educational product
Is learned early as essential to personal survival.
We know who we are
And the adults who once were us,
We know who you are,
And the adults who once were us,
We know who you are,
The ones who will be left behind
When everyone is like we are:
When everyone is like we are:
We wish you no harm, we are on separate sides
Of a species divide through no fault of your own
-- It is inevitable that humanity changes
As we leave the savannah and set foot on the moon,
We will change more when we spread across the stars
And earth is a distant memory in place and moment –
Of a species divide through no fault of your own
-- It is inevitable that humanity changes
As we leave the savannah and set foot on the moon,
We will change more when we spread across the stars
And earth is a distant memory in place and moment –
We are the ineludible future and will succeed,
If only you give us enough time. stars enough and time.
Lisa Jain Thompson
(with debts to A. E. Van Vogt and others)
August 2007
(with debts to A. E. Van Vogt and others)
August 2007
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bedroom eyes
The View from Evanston
These breasts she kisses,
These nipples she sucks
Before running her tongue
Down past my navel,
Edging evercloser
As she teases me,
Caresses me,
Carries me off
From conscious volition
Into the bright
Breathless moments
Of my surrender.
Lisa Jain Thompson
August 2007
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Do Lesbians Dream In Pink?
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the bright laser of reality
Sicilian Princess
When I was five, I was a Sicilian princess,
Who obeyed her parents and her church,
And prayed to god before I slept
To make my body whole and make it like
The girl whose soul my creator gave me.
And prayed to god before I slept
To make my body whole and make it like
The girl whose soul my creator gave me.
When I was twelve, I slept in tears,
Wanting to tell my parents who I was
As my mind screamed I’m a girl, I’m a girl,
The daughter you thought you didn’t have,
But I did not, could not, and remained silent.
But I did not, could not, and remained silent.
Now, looking back through decades long past,
I can not see what I could have done
That would have mattered or changed anything
In post war America, pre-Harry Benjamin,
For a young girl imprisoned in some boy’s body.
I can not see what I could have done
That would have mattered or changed anything
In post war America, pre-Harry Benjamin,
For a young girl imprisoned in some boy’s body.
Lisa Jain Thompson
August 2007__/\/\/\/\__
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the point of the sword
The War as They Saw It
The war as they saw it,
Tail ending a fifteen month tour,
Insurgents, counterinsurgents,
Insurgents, counterinsurgents,
An occupying force of a recalcitrant population
With little interest in the long range goals
With little interest in the long range goals
Of American Democracy and Christian empire.
They have seen the mounting civil unrest,
The political upheaval,
The claims of control on the margins
Offset by failure elsewhere,
The claims of control on the margins
Offset by failure elsewhere,
A land filled with bad actors
Who do not fit neatly into presidential boxes:
Extremists, terrorists, and militiamen
Who do not fit neatly into presidential boxes:
Extremists, terrorists, and militiamen
Mixed among criminals and armed tribes
Of questionable loyalties and agendas.
Of questionable loyalties and agendas.
Local citizens who testify
That Iraqi police
Escort triggermen through checkpoints
And help them plant the bomb;
Local citizens who if they warn Americans
Will have their families killed
That Iraqi police
Escort triggermen through checkpoints
And help them plant the bomb;
Local citizens who if they warn Americans
Will have their families killed
By the Iraqi Army, the local police,
Or the Shiite militia.
Battalion comanders, even if well meaning,
Have no influence over the obstinate men
Who form the Iraqi Army;
Have no influence over the obstinate men
Who form the Iraqi Army;
Battalion commanders who are stuck in
An incoherent chain of command,
Leading men who are only loyal to their militias.
An incoherent chain of command,
Leading men who are only loyal to their militias.
We arm the Sunnis
In our fight against Al Qaeda,
In our fight against Al Qaeda,
In their fight against Shiite
Militias and dominated government,
Militias and dominated government,
But the question of their loyalty is unanswered:
Saddam Hussein was Sunni,
A dictator who gave Iraqi women their freedom
And abolished the Sharia courts of law.
A dictator who gave Iraqi women their freedom
And abolished the Sharia courts of law.
With determined enemies and questionable allies,
The balance of forces remains unclear;
We have the will and the resources
We have the will and the resources
To end this ill-conceived stale mate,
We are hamstrung by our beliefs
We are hamstrung by our beliefs
-- We cannot use lethal and brutal force
And leave a path of destruction
As we march to the sea,
an Army that has taken four years
To fail to produce a country at peace
And leave a path of destruction
As we march to the sea,
an Army that has taken four years
To fail to produce a country at peace
As we continue to arm each warring side.
The morass has fueled impatience and confusion,
Providing no semblance of security
While we force the Iraqis to correct our mistakes
When the President plunged headlong against Saddam;
Even now we try to please every party and please none,
Even now there is less electricity and sanitation
Than before we overthrew the government,
Providing no semblance of security
While we force the Iraqis to correct our mistakes
When the President plunged headlong against Saddam;
Even now we try to please every party and please none,
Even now there is less electricity and sanitation
Than before we overthrew the government,
Even now the lucky Iraqis
Barricade themselves behind concrete blast walls;
Barricade themselves behind concrete blast walls;
Even now our President plans to cut and run
And leave his mess for his successor to resolve,
Even now the Iraqis wait for us to leave
So they can reclaim their country for themselves.
And leave his mess for his successor to resolve,
Even now the Iraqis wait for us to leave
So they can reclaim their country for themselves.
Lisa Jain Thompson
(with input from Buddhika Jayamaha, Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck,
Omar Mora, Edward Sandmeier, Yance T. Gray, and Jeremy A. Murphy)
(with input from Buddhika Jayamaha, Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck,
Omar Mora, Edward Sandmeier, Yance T. Gray, and Jeremy A. Murphy)
August 2007
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Should pedophile prohibitions apply to Gay Guys
picking up twinks with false ID?
picking up twinks with false ID?
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fantasia
Multi-Regional
The curve of her flesh
Just below the navel,
Where the body flows
Just below the navel,
Where the body flows
Over the ovaries,
A suggestion of children:
Somewhere in the past
A man was here
A man was here
Before my tongue was.
Lisa Jain Thompson
August 2007
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the weather outside
Overcast Anticipation
Thin white overlay
Not quite suppressing
Any blue sky
That lurks above;
A too warm by ten
Breeze from the south
Begins the relentless path
Begins the relentless path
Towards a century;
Saturday will be unbreathable
Until the thunderstorms burst
And the heavens flood the world
Until the thunderstorms burst
And the heavens flood the world
With showers.
Lisa Jain Thompson
August 2007
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If Germane Greer possessed 44Ds
and a face to go to launch a thousand ships,
and a face to go to launch a thousand ships,
where would feminism be today?
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the great chain of being
And Now Viet Nam
Liberation became occupation,
Democracy became Unity,
The surge, reconciliation,
And now, Viet Nam,
The one he avoided.
The surge, reconciliation,
And now, Viet Nam,
The one he avoided.
How neat and clean this all is
-- Did Jesus tell the president
All about Viet Nam one night in prayer?
Did W suddenly remember
-- Did Jesus tell the president
All about Viet Nam one night in prayer?
Did W suddenly remember
One of his father’s old war stories?
The best I can figure out
Is that George had a flashback
Is that George had a flashback
To some university bull session
Over beer and marijuana
In a frat house in New Haven.
Over beer and marijuana
In a frat house in New Haven.
If we leave, does that mean
Putin will crumble like some Soviet empire,
And Iraq will embrace capitalism, and we will gain
Thousands of restaurants and hardworking manicurists
And Iraq will embrace capitalism, and we will gain
Thousands of restaurants and hardworking manicurists
To replace the aging, post-war Vietnamese?
Lisa Jain Thompson
August 2007
August 2007
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ending on a light note
Dark Roasted Poet
Sitting in a Starbucks,
Drinking caramel macchiato,
While I wait for my wife
To escape for the weekend
And take me back home
To our dog and bedroom.
Just another slow,
Hot summer afternoon,
Watching the air conditioned cars
And the shiny SUVs
Sneak off for the seashore
A couple hours before the rush.
Lisa Jain Thompson
August 2007
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PEACE
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Starpoetby Lisa Jain Thompson.
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