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Saturday, 16 February 2008 19:00
Last Updated on Saturday, 16 February 2008 18:55
The
Starpoet Newsletter
Volume IX, No. VII
Starpoet Newsletter
Volume IX, No. VII
For each unharmful gentle soul
Who floats downstream
Carried by the long river's flow
Who floats downstream
Carried by the long river's flow
I forge my skills with passionate fire
To light the endless night
And ease their way
Down to the waiting sea
And eternity
And ease their way
Down to the waiting sea
And eternity
Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2008 C. E.
Primates Do It Face To Face
To everything there is a season -- I just wish it would make up its mind and stick to one or the other
A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher
fire when you least expect it.
That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit.
PS magazine
August 1993
fire when you least expect it.
That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit.
PS magazine
August 1993
democracy and all that jazz
One Cheer Shy of Fervor
People say I am ruthless. I am not ruthless.
And if I find the man who is calling me ruthless,
I shall destroy him.
Our time has come, our movement is real,
Change is coming to
Than a collection of red and blue states;
We are The United States of
And always will be.
Not this time, Not this year,
This time can be different: this time
We will seize the moment, this fall
We have a real choice between change
And more of the same,
This time can be different: this time
We will seize the moment, this fall
We have a real choice between change
And more of the same,
Between looking forward and looking back,
Between our future and our past
We can do this, this generation,
We are the ones we have been waiting for,
The change that we seek.
Between our future and our past
We can do this, this generation,
We are the ones we have been waiting for,
The change that we seek.
Few have the greatness to bend history,
But each one of us can change
A small portion of events, shaping the future
By our actions and our willingness
To commit our minds and bodies.
But each one of us can change
A small portion of events, shaping the future
By our actions and our willingness
To commit our minds and bodies.
Where some may see only challenges,
We see only a future filled with opportunity:
We may fail but we will fail greatly,
And together we will write
The history of this generation.
We see only a future filled with opportunity:
We may fail but we will fail greatly,
And together we will write
The history of this generation.
sometimes you just want to believe
Lisa Jain Thompson
February 2008
February 2008
If you aren't living on the edge, you're taking up too much room.
too many
Way the Hell Out in the Middle of Nowhere
Oxycodone, hydrocodone,
Diazepam and temazepam,
Alprazolam and doxylamine:
OxyContin and generic opiate,
Valium, Restoril, Xanax, and Unisom.
Diazepam and temazepam,
Alprazolam and doxylamine:
OxyContin and generic opiate,
Valium, Restoril, Xanax, and Unisom.
Weapons in a battle with insomnia,
Medication to sleep, but not to dream,
Dueling prescriptions waging war
Inside an exhausted mind and body,
Working all too well, sweet prince.
Medication to sleep, but not to dream,
Dueling prescriptions waging war
Inside an exhausted mind and body,
Working all too well, sweet prince.
One chance, that’s all we’ve got,
One fucking chance is all:
The wrong place, the wrong time,
And you can’t fix it, you can’t ride it out.
Let him be.
One fucking chance is all:
The wrong place, the wrong time,
And you can’t fix it, you can’t ride it out.
Let him be.
Heath Andrew Ledger
1979-2008
Lisa Jain Thompson
February 2008
February 2008
Two Rules of Success:
1) Don't tell everything you know.
into the never never
In The Box
Of pirate ships, from Hook to Jack,
And fantastical flights to distant lands,
Passing the third star closely on the left,
Leaving Spock and Kirk to their battles,
While we pursue sandworms
with the other lost children.
Down the wormhole (once rabbit inhabited),
Serenaded by crock and clock,
We run lickery splittery,
by hook and imagination,
Down towards the stars and sea’s end.
And fantastical flights to distant lands,
Passing the third star closely on the left,
Leaving Spock and Kirk to their battles,
While we pursue sandworms
with the other lost children.
Down the wormhole (once rabbit inhabited),
Serenaded by crock and clock,
We run lickery splittery,
by hook and imagination,
Down towards the stars and sea’s end.
Lisa Jain Thompson
February 2008
February 2008
Too often we lose sight of life's simple pleasures.
Remember, when someone annoys you,
it takes 42 muscles to frown
but it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm
and bitch-slap the mother f*cker in the head.
Remember, when someone annoys you,
it takes 42 muscles to frown
but it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm
and bitch-slap the mother f*cker in the head.
classically formulaic
Hypatia
Love, like spring,
Can come and go quickly,
Slipping in and back out
Before one really notices
Or finds time to focus.
Can come and go quickly,
Slipping in and back out
Before one really notices
Or finds time to focus.
Love
Demands your attention,
Unlike spring’s bright ritual,
And, once let past,
May not ever return.
Demands your attention,
Unlike spring’s bright ritual,
And, once let past,
May not ever return.
Lisa Jain Thompson
February 2008
Remember, when life throws you lemons...
genetically re-engineer the lemon tree
to eliminate taste compatability issues,
using the profits to increase personal gain
and eventually dominate the citrus market.
genetically re-engineer the lemon tree
to eliminate taste compatability issues,
using the profits to increase personal gain
and eventually dominate the citrus market.
eyewitness
Male Noir
Bogey, so sure of himself and masculine,
The treat of rough sex just below the surface,
Pulling in the men while seducing the women
As he searches for some McGuffic falcon;
A spade of a different color
Than politically correct detectives,
Male without apologies
Or pseudo macho posing,
Without need to justify his existence,
Or drape himself in gender theory explanation:
A man, just a man, which is more than enough.
The treat of rough sex just below the surface,
Pulling in the men while seducing the women
As he searches for some McGuffic falcon;
A spade of a different color
Than politically correct detectives,
Male without apologies
Or pseudo macho posing,
Without need to justify his existence,
Or drape himself in gender theory explanation:
A man, just a man, which is more than enough.
Lisa Jain Thompson
February 2008
February 2008
Pessimism is just an ugly word for pattern recognition.
you can't win them all
The Calm Black Humor Before The Storm
I have buried Ike and JFK,
Lyndon Johnson, Richard Milhous Nixon,
And the Honorable Gerald R. Ford;
I have buried Ronald Reagan,
Gone but still remembered.
But Jimmy Carter is hanging around
As is the elder Bush;
William Clinton won’t move off stage
And W can’t leave quick enough;
Somewhere in there Truman left,
And Hoover, if I remember correct;
I can hardly wait to see who’s next
To join, add, and subtract from
The presidential death watch list.
Lyndon Johnson, Richard Milhous Nixon,
And the Honorable Gerald R. Ford;
I have buried Ronald Reagan,
Gone but still remembered.
But Jimmy Carter is hanging around
As is the elder Bush;
William Clinton won’t move off stage
And W can’t leave quick enough;
Somewhere in there Truman left,
And Hoover, if I remember correct;
I can hardly wait to see who’s next
To join, add, and subtract from
The presidential death watch list.
Lisa Jain Thompson
February 2008
I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said,
"I'm going to mop the floor with your face."
I said, "You'll be sorry."
He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?"
I said, "Well, you won't be able
to get into the corners very well."
"I'm going to mop the floor with your face."
I said, "You'll be sorry."
He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?"
I said, "Well, you won't be able
to get into the corners very well."
-- Emo Philips
this isn't rocket science -- see the gorillas up above
Mammalia
There is no we
In I’m pregnant,
Life is not that fair;
In I’m pregnant,
Life is not that fair;
The difference is real,
Boys and girls,
Despite our best intentions
Boys and girls,
Despite our best intentions
-- Democratic philosophy
And academic theories
Cannot undo genetics --
And academic theories
Cannot undo genetics --
We are not some alien
Unisexual species
Free of evolution’s binary:
Unisexual species
Free of evolution’s binary:
We are very well stuck
With what we’ve got,
Top to bottom sexuality.
With what we’ve got,
Top to bottom sexuality.
Lisa Jain Thompson
February 2008
February 2008
Based on what you know about him in history books,
what do you think Abraham Lincoln would be doing if he were alive today?
what do you think Abraham Lincoln would be doing if he were alive today?
Writing his memoirs of the Civil War.
Advising the President.
Desperately clawing at the inside of his coffin.
-- David Letterman
pulling it all together
A Scattering Tempest
We were two parallel lines
Traveling bumpily along
Until we managed to cross,
Uncrossed stars who shone
In our separate universes,
Traveling bumpily along
Until we managed to cross,
Uncrossed stars who shone
In our separate universes,
Seemingly forever destined
Never to touch or meet
Until, ashes to ashes,
We returned to starstuff
Adrift in endless orbit.
Never to touch or meet
Until, ashes to ashes,
We returned to starstuff
Adrift in endless orbit.
If life were a tragedy,
We’d meet in passing,
Fall in deeply in love
Only to find ourselves
Independent variables
We’d meet in passing,
Fall in deeply in love
Only to find ourselves
Independent variables
With lives so divergent
We could not make permanent
Our brief intersection
No matter how meticulously
We attempted to normalize
We could not make permanent
Our brief intersection
No matter how meticulously
We attempted to normalize
What passed for existence,
Resolving ourselves evermore
As desolate singularities
Writ large with loss and tears
And permanent disengagement.
Resolving ourselves evermore
As desolate singularities
Writ large with loss and tears
And permanent disengagement.
If life were romantic comedy,
We would meet cute,
You would bumble into me,
I would say something witty
Over warm Danish and coffee.
We would meet cute,
You would bumble into me,
I would say something witty
Over warm Danish and coffee.
A whirlwind would follow,
Smiles and laughter,
Sex and argument,
As we twisted impetuously
Under the poet’s wit,
Smiles and laughter,
Sex and argument,
As we twisted impetuously
Under the poet’s wit,
Performing the parts
Written large for us by society
And the evolutionary demands
Of a primate neurobiology
Laid down by chance and DNA.
Written large for us by society
And the evolutionary demands
Of a primate neurobiology
Laid down by chance and DNA.
Romantic comedy is young,
Alas we are not;
Tragedy is forever
And we hold this stage
For only the briefest moment more,
Alas we are not;
Tragedy is forever
And we hold this stage
For only the briefest moment more,
Still in our firm possession
Of the best constructed bodies,
With minds still fully bright,
That our parents could provide
And mortality’s slow descent allows.
Of the best constructed bodies,
With minds still fully bright,
That our parents could provide
And mortality’s slow descent allows.
Our lines, once disunited,
Now, by our wills, lie superimposed
Until time and space grow close,
Our breath slows, our lips meet,
And we embrace the final call of eternity.
Now, by our wills, lie superimposed
Until time and space grow close,
Our breath slows, our lips meet,
And we embrace the final call of eternity.
Lisa Jain Thompson
February 2008
February 2008
There will always be survivors.
-- Robert Heinlen
-- Robert Heinlen
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.
Email your letters and postcards or visit her contact page at the Starpoet website.
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