Newsflash:
Saturday, 10 November 2007 20:00
Last Updated on Saturday, 10 November 2007 18:32
The
Starpoet
Newsletter
Vol. VIII, No. XLVI
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Arab flag in November sky
Gray clouds against washed out blue
Gray clouds against washed out blue
Birds still huddled tightly to the trees
Brisk wind pulling moisture from the gulf
Not yet winter, the days grow shorten
The Solstice more than a month away
The darkness has swallowed the sliding sun
And pushes dawn well past today
And pushes dawn well past today
Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2007 C. E.
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another week, another visit to my endo to talk about the future and suck my bloodwork
Veteran's Day Looms, a reminder of every moment when our diplomacy was just not good enough and we asked someone to go do what must be done at times.
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men and women, male and female
The Truth About Cats and Dogs
There is something in the hardwiring
That draws women to taller men,
That draws women to taller men,
Even if the "taller" is an inch or two
That is overcome with mid-height heels.
That is overcome with mid-height heels.
I don't know what it is,
And I'm sure we'd all like to be fair,
But there is nothing quite like being held
In the warm arms of a taller, stronger man.
So sue us.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
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more philosophical sex
The Men Women See
Men are the aliens among us,
Filled with secret motives and concealed desires
And bright sharp thoughts
That we neither have nor wish for.
They drift in and out of our lives,
Passing through our families
But never really a part
Of doctor's visits and sick, puking chidren
Or shuttling between school and soccer,
Parent-teacher's and the music lessons
Before setting the table for dinner.
There's a whole other world
Between nine and five,
Filled with young women,
Grandmothers, and baby strollers
That men avoid
With single minded dedication,
Knowing the atmosphere
Would prove deadly to any male
Who ventured beyond the safe zone.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
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I do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegience
to the United States of America;
that I will serve them honestly and faithfully
against all their enemies whomsoever;
and that I will obey the orders
of the President of the United States
and the orders of the officers appointed over me,
according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
to the United States of America;
that I will serve them honestly and faithfully
against all their enemies whomsoever;
and that I will obey the orders
of the President of the United States
and the orders of the officers appointed over me,
according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Oath of the Uniformed Services of the United States
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no explanation needed
The IESVS and The George
If the president were a facilitator of genocide,
His actions would at least be explainable;
Instead we have an incompetent world leader
Whose misguided philosophies and lack of curiosity
Has injured and killed countless people;
Who wraps himself in male-centric emotions,
Unproductive hostility, and disagreeable cowboy tendencies
That had been proven un-useful and troublesome
by the Earps in October Eighteen Sixty-one;
Incurious and ignorant, his thunderous stupidity
Failed to consider any possibilities but what he desired,
His clueless laziness stumbled headlong into the wilderness,
Listening only to the rapture of his own personal jesus
Who he heard anoint him the messiah of everlasting democracy.
His actions would at least be explainable;
Instead we have an incompetent world leader
Whose misguided philosophies and lack of curiosity
Has injured and killed countless people;
Who wraps himself in male-centric emotions,
Unproductive hostility, and disagreeable cowboy tendencies
That had been proven un-useful and troublesome
by the Earps in October Eighteen Sixty-one;
Incurious and ignorant, his thunderous stupidity
Failed to consider any possibilities but what he desired,
His clueless laziness stumbled headlong into the wilderness,
Listening only to the rapture of his own personal jesus
Who he heard anoint him the messiah of everlasting democracy.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
November 2007
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a woman's lot
Courthouse Metro Station
Six women groped near metro stations,
Four in the last week in Arlington County;
The victims, young women, were walking alone
On their way back home from the terminal,
When a young man, white and perhaps hispanic,
From behind, grabs their buttocks, and runs;
Four different stops, up and down a single train line,
A half dozen women, a lone male who's lost control.
A man will never understand how it is to be a woman
And live with a constant possibility of random male terror.
- "This kind of behavior happens much more regularly
Than anyone in authority will publicly admit.,"
Some men will always be sexual aggressors
Whose target is any woman who dares to be seen.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
WHEREAS it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date
should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises
designed to perpetuate peace through good will
and mutual understanding between nations; and
WHEREAS the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States
have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday:
Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),
That the President of the United States is requested
to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials
to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings
on November 11
and inviting the people of the United States
to observe the day in schools and churches,
or other suitable places,
with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.
Prayer for Army Spouses
Lord, grant me the greatness of heart to see,
The difference in duty and the love for me.
Give me the understanding to know,
That when duty calls they must go.
Give me a task to do each day,
To fill the time when they are away.
And Lord when duty is far away,
Please protect them, this I pray.
— Unknown and LJT c. 2007
What crystalline eyes and shimmering intricacies
Dance across the flow of spacetime
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.
Four in the last week in Arlington County;
The victims, young women, were walking alone
On their way back home from the terminal,
When a young man, white and perhaps hispanic,
From behind, grabs their buttocks, and runs;
Four different stops, up and down a single train line,
A half dozen women, a lone male who's lost control.
A man will never understand how it is to be a woman
And live with a constant possibility of random male terror.
- "This kind of behavior happens much more regularly
Than anyone in authority will publicly admit.,"
Some men will always be sexual aggressors
Whose target is any woman who dares to be seen.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
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WHEREAS the 11th of November 1918,
marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary,
and far reaching war in human annals
and the resumption by the people of the United States
of peaceful relations with other nations,
which we hope may never again be served, and
and far reaching war in human annals
and the resumption by the people of the United States
of peaceful relations with other nations,
which we hope may never again be served, and
WHEREAS it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date
should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises
designed to perpetuate peace through good will
and mutual understanding between nations; and
WHEREAS the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States
have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday:
Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),
That the President of the United States is requested
to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials
to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings
on November 11
and inviting the people of the United States
to observe the day in schools and churches,
or other suitable places,
with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.
-- Proclamation of the Congress of the United States
June 4, 1926
June 4, 1926
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growing older
Things We Did in Shining Youth
It's not that you can't go back home again,
But when you do,
Your parents are dead,
Your grandparents, long gone,
And your brother is this aging gentleman
Recovering from some vague cancer.
Your grade school, if it still exists,
Consists of crumbling brink underneath
A new coat of lead free paint;
Your high school has become
Some sort of testing training center
Where everyone seems to have grade points
A coup of tenths or more above perfect.
The superficials don't matter: iPODS,
IPhones, facebook blog rants
Are only the current manifestations
Of transister radios and the telephone
That can needlessly catch you up
While you overlook the obvious
-- You are no longer a child,
Your world is no longer limited
By parents and teachers
And the pressure of your peers.
You've grown bigger than home
And best not try to hide
In the whistful memories
Of when your mother seemed to solve
All your nagging daily problems
And your father both protected you
From the strangers marauding on the street
And the dragon's sharp breath
Behind your closet's door.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
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November in morning
Before The Great Ships Whisper
Crows as big as a five year old tomcat,
As black as a panther
Prowling the streets of ancient Oakland,
Strut and style outside my less than shiny car,
Notably unafraid
Of what an aging woman could do.
They don't take flight
Or scurry across the roadway,
They don't even take a few steps
Or scurry across the roadway,
They don't even take a few steps
To get farther away from me,
Preferring to size me up
As a potential food source
As a potential food source
Should their scavenging of the garbage
Prove unsatisfactory.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
November 2007
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Lord, grant me the greatness of heart to see,
The difference in duty and the love for me.
Give me the understanding to know,
That when duty calls they must go.
Give me a task to do each day,
To fill the time when they are away.
And Lord when duty is far away,
Please protect them, this I pray.
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a bit of starpoet
The Golden Stars
Had the ancient calendar continued,
What year would this be?
After the ruin and reconstruction,
After the ruin and reconstruction,
Do we even know if we are human?
What crystalline eyes and shimmering intricacies
Dance across the flow of spacetime
In the name of a cutural memorie
That once was earth?
A hundred years distant,
We bare recognize our sister,
A thousand, we are aliens
Lost among ourselves,
Still another millennium
Will find us, not them.
The death of one star means nothing
When compared to vastness of galaxy.
When compared to vastness of galaxy.
Where do we go when this universe ends?
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
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moment to moment
Crossing The Rail
The trick is not to mind that it hurts,
Or some such thing Lawrence said,
Accept you are different and don't complain
If someone notices what makes you unique.
Pain is the price we all must pay
To accomplish anything worthwhile:
What comes without effort is seldom worth the cost,
Complaining does make the journey any shorter.
This life, your life, ours, is all we have to offer.
Wishing to avoid desolate places
Is human and understandable,
But sometimes the road to Damascus
Finds us in desperate situations;
Turning off when the sands grow treacherous
Seals our fate and loses Aqaba.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
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In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.
-- José Narosky
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love and all that
A Sliding Scale of Importance
History may scrape off our names
And misremember our eyes and appearance,
But the whispers will pass, one to the other,
The story of Sharon and Lisa Jain,
The marriage of true minds and bodies
Played out across the internet
To the distant corners of time and space
Where our voices will ever echo
And men and women will claim to have met us
Back when we walked the world unknown.
But for now, what say you, we
Go upstairs, spend the afternoon making love,
And let the future take care of itself for awhile.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2007
November 2007
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In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man,
and brave, and hated and scorned. |
When his cause succeeds, the timid join him,
for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.
and brave, and hated and scorned. |
When his cause succeeds, the timid join him,
for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.
-- Mark Twain
Notebook
Notebook
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PEACE
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