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Saturday, 14 June 2008 17:00
Last Updated on Saturday, 14 June 2008 17:00
The Starpoet Newsletter
Volume IX, No. XXIV
Volume IX, No. XXIV
Ain't got no Direct T. V.
Ain't got no flashy Iphone
Ain't go no Viper or Porsche
Ain't got no flashy Iphone
Ain't go no Viper or Porsche
All I got is you
Ain't got no prefab McMansion
Ain't got no gas sucking off road vehicle
Ain't got no glitzy overpriced clothes
Ain't got no gas sucking off road vehicle
Ain't got no glitzy overpriced clothes
All I got is you
You got me
and We
Together
Got more than enough
Got more than enough
Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2008 C. E.
My second mammogram turned out fine. Everyone as you were.
older now
Softball Blues
I have the body of an aging,
Out of shape,
Fast Pitch
Softball Player,
College Level,
N C Two A Tournament team,
Several decades past her prime.
Several.
Out of shape,
Fast Pitch
Softball Player,
College Level,
N C Two A Tournament team,
Several decades past her prime.
Several.
I have lost muscle mass,
Gained fat,
But still can summon
The necessary reflexes
For an inning or six or seven
Once a week,
Once a month,
Once a quarter,
In my mind.
Gained fat,
But still can summon
The necessary reflexes
For an inning or six or seven
Once a week,
Once a month,
Once a quarter,
In my mind.
If you give me a full month’s warning
To get back in playing shape,
If the tendonitis doesn’t flare up
And cause me too much pain,
If I can find a bat light enough
To get it ‘round in time, then perhaps,
If the sun is bright and the breeze is cool,
We can play two before evening falls.
To get back in playing shape,
If the tendonitis doesn’t flare up
And cause me too much pain,
If I can find a bat light enough
To get it ‘round in time, then perhaps,
If the sun is bright and the breeze is cool,
We can play two before evening falls.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
Darkness falls with a breaker snap
And a shower of bright sparks
Cascading down the high wire pole
The lightning struck.
The rain drops heavy footed
Accompanied by a baritone rumble
That bounces between the clouds
While the real shock and awe
Illuminates the heavens
And shatters, sky to earth,
The serenity of a young Mastroianni
Romancing an even younger Sophia Loren.
Now I’ll never know if he gets the girl.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
Obama strikes poses so evocative of the forefathers on our currency,
he's not campaigning merely for president but rather is "running for coin."
-- Jon Stewart
summer storm 2
Sixteen Candles
Sixteen candles,
Scattered room to room,
Push back the thundered darkness.
Allowing the poet to contemplate
The drip of wax and make her way
Up the stairs to the bathroom
When the realities of a coarser nature
Intrude upon the almost mythical gnosis
And perfect contemplation
Of how humid Virginia really is
When all the air conditioning
Has been shut off.
Scattered room to room,
Push back the thundered darkness.
Allowing the poet to contemplate
The drip of wax and make her way
Up the stairs to the bathroom
When the realities of a coarser nature
Intrude upon the almost mythical gnosis
And perfect contemplation
Of how humid Virginia really is
When all the air conditioning
Has been shut off.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
summer storm 3
Dominion Lineman
Outside,
In the darkness,
In the rain,
The linemen struggle
To unthrow the breaker
That cast true night
Upon tree and street.
In the darkness,
In the rain,
The linemen struggle
To unthrow the breaker
That cast true night
Upon tree and street.
I gather my light
Candle by candle,
Cursing the thunderstorm
That blew such ancient nighthood
Across the land once again
With little consideration
That the Celtics
Were playing the Lakers
For the championship tonight.
Candle by candle,
Cursing the thunderstorm
That blew such ancient nighthood
Across the land once again
With little consideration
That the Celtics
Were playing the Lakers
For the championship tonight.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
Obama exudes such off-the-charts optimism in these trying times,
"even his nipples are filled with hope!"
-- Lewis Black
humid observation
A Century Passing
Gray heat overhangs
The dark green barrier of the tree row
That separates my air conditioned pen
From the auto mechanics
Who shout to each other
In various rapid dialects of Español,
The dark green barrier of the tree row
That separates my air conditioned pen
From the auto mechanics
Who shout to each other
In various rapid dialects of Español,
A handful of
South Americas ,
A scattering of Old Mexicos,
Supporting their families,
Joking with the other men
About the promise of women and beer
At shift’s end.
A scattering of Old Mexicos,
Supporting their families,
Joking with the other men
About the promise of women and beer
At shift’s end.
My grandfather
Must have been like that when,
Newly arrived from Sicily and Palermo,
He joined the other laborers
Working Chicago’s mean streets
A century ago, almost to the day.
Must have been like that when,
Newly arrived from Sicily and Palermo,
He joined the other laborers
Working Chicago’s mean streets
A century ago, almost to the day.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
starpoet in all her glory
Into the Darkness, Endlessly Calling
Suppose God is waiting for us
At the rim of the Galaxy,
On some begotten pale arm
Between light and darkness,
To greet us serenely
As we finally enter his heavens
And provide a well worn map
To Andromeda and beyond?
At the rim of the Galaxy,
On some begotten pale arm
Between light and darkness,
To greet us serenely
As we finally enter his heavens
And provide a well worn map
To Andromeda and beyond?
Suppose all this has been a test
And, given our talents,
He expects us to invest them
In starships that will join us
To the majesty of his creation?
And, given our talents,
He expects us to invest them
In starships that will join us
To the majesty of his creation?
Suppose the word for our world is galaxy,
The garden for our only true test,
Salvation then lies, to God’s greater glory,
Out away from the safety of our local cluster
On far distant planets filed with abundance
Where we will build bright cathedrals
To honor His presence.
The garden for our only true test,
Salvation then lies, to God’s greater glory,
Out away from the safety of our local cluster
On far distant planets filed with abundance
Where we will build bright cathedrals
To honor His presence.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
I before E except...
Deirdre Oppenheimer came down from the heights of a glacier, tore off her veil, seized an ancient financier, and shamed our consciences grievously. 'This society is inefficient!', she inveighed. 'I wasted my leisure becoming proficient in cuneiform hieroglyphs. Either reimburse me with the value of the Einstein coefficient, or I will drag this man back to my hacienda in Muncie, wherein he will forfeit his life!'
I feigned interest, but looked for our feisty concierge Neil, whom I might inveigle into reining in this weird being. But he had gone to Anaheim, Beijing, Madeira and Taipei with Alexei to shop for a beige geiger counter. His absenteeism made me feel like queueing for the exit. The only sound was the neighing of the sheik's eight reindeer, chewing their edelweiss.
I turned to Sheila, the Budweiser heiress. "Cease your surveillance of the sleigh and its freight!"
waist deep
The Sparrow’s Tale
Hey now,
This is real,
Not some Disney pirate tale;
We’re here,
The hurricane is coming,
And best we not
Otherwise pretend.
This is real,
Not some Disney pirate tale;
We’re here,
The hurricane is coming,
And best we not
Otherwise pretend.
The Dutchman must have a captain,
Whether he be old or young,
The shoals rise up beside us,
Compliments of our own inattention
And our preference to keep on shopping.
Whether he be old or young,
The shoals rise up beside us,
Compliments of our own inattention
And our preference to keep on shopping.
Part of the crew,
Part of the ship,
A fine disaster we;
Set sail, set sail,
Into the sunset
Until even this does end
And the ocean rolls,
Ever as ever more.
Part of the ship,
A fine disaster we;
Set sail, set sail,
Into the sunset
Until even this does end
And the ocean rolls,
Ever as ever more.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
you can't lose it
Flip, Flop, and Fly
Roll with me Henry,
You better roll it while the rollin' is on …
-- Etta James
The Wallflower (Dance With Me Henry)
You better roll it while the rollin' is on …
-- Etta James
The Wallflower (Dance With Me Henry)
When I was a child
-- So young that even Dick Clark was young --
I listened to Sullivan, the Hit Parade.
And American Bandstand with my mother
In the afternoon after school.
-- So young that even Dick Clark was young --
I listened to Sullivan, the Hit Parade.
And American Bandstand with my mother
In the afternoon after school.
It seemed like music was everywhere,
But only Bandstand was rock and roll,
And only rock and roll
Upset the teachers, the preachers,
And the politicians seeking easy votes
From worried parents.
But only Bandstand was rock and roll,
And only rock and roll
Upset the teachers, the preachers,
And the politicians seeking easy votes
From worried parents.
We were singing
Johnny Angel and Soldier Boy
In the back of the classroom
Before the nuns called us all to order;
Listening to DJs on my transistor radio
In bed after the lights were out
Johnny Angel and Soldier Boy
In the back of the classroom
Before the nuns called us all to order;
Listening to DJs on my transistor radio
In bed after the lights were out
-- Strangers In The Night,
Two hands apart, as we slow danced
Lady’s Choice in the gym
While the PTA gnashed and wailed
We don’t want no rock and roll in here.
Two hands apart, as we slow danced
Lady’s Choice in the gym
While the PTA gnashed and wailed
We don’t want no rock and roll in here.
But we did, and Chuck did,
And Sam Cook and Little Richard did,
So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis and Ricky,
Valens, Cochran, Domino, and the Everlys,
Turning the backbeat all the way up to eleven.
The preachers were right after all was done,
We had rocked our way to hell and damnation,
But what a grand glorious trip it turned out to be.
So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis and Ricky,
Valens, Cochran, Domino, and the Everlys,
Turning the backbeat all the way up to eleven.
The preachers were right after all was done,
We had rocked our way to hell and damnation,
But what a grand glorious trip it turned out to be.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
Obama and McCain campaign slogans
Be Part of an Obama Nation!
Vote McCain, by Cracky!
Vote Obama. He's As American As Makuahine and Poi!
McCain: Supporting Social Security Since The Beginning.
Obama08 Inshallah!
Vote "Present" for Obama
McCain ? Pants on, teeth in, ready to roll!
a final wisp
Life as a Sentient Machine
After all the planets circling all the stars,
I find myself dying back here on earth.
Soon I will be lost in the darkness,
A comet without mass or substance,
All my careful words and precious thoughts
Slowed to silence and inaction.
I find myself dying back here on earth.
Soon I will be lost in the darkness,
A comet without mass or substance,
All my careful words and precious thoughts
Slowed to silence and inaction.
Were I to write a thousand books
-- Out Asimov Isaac at his best –
This too would end, my life a bookshelf
Of digital records and mathematical associations.
-- Out Asimov Isaac at his best –
This too would end, my life a bookshelf
Of digital records and mathematical associations.
Should I bow to the inevitable,
Let slide these remaining handful decades,
Denying myself the stars?
Because I will not exist, does not mean I do not.
Let slide these remaining handful decades,
Denying myself the stars?
Because I will not exist, does not mean I do not.
What makes us human is to live knowing we die,
What makes us nobly brave is to go on
In spite of all certainty we will someday fail.
What makes us nobly brave is to go on
In spite of all certainty we will someday fail.
But not now,
Not here,
Not today,
Not quickly,
And not
Without
A fight.
Not here,
Not today,
Not quickly,
And not
Without
A fight.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 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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