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The StarPoet Newsletter
Vol. IX, No. XLV
Vol. IX, No. XLV
Rock n Roll will never die
But it's surely fading away
But it's surely fading away
One by one
The singers disappear
Escaping from obscurity
One last moment
When they vanish forever
Into footnote and the grave
Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2008 CE
The Glass Ceiling is half full.
Army promotes first woman to four star rank.
Bottom Line Up Front: I've worked for General Dunwoody.
We hugged each other after she was selected for a fourth star.
We hugged each other after she was selected for a fourth star.
one night, trying to remember
The Moment
The idea of my father’s dying
Did not occur to me until I saw his body,
As though the ambulance was for
One of my neighbors
And not possibly for him or mom.
Did not occur to me until I saw his body,
As though the ambulance was for
One of my neighbors
And not possibly for him or mom.
I kissed his forehead
As he lay on the cement floor,
Then closed his eyes,
The last time I would ever see them.
As he lay on the cement floor,
Then closed his eyes,
The last time I would ever see them.
I remember it all, sitting with my mother
For hours in silence, walking to my neighbors
When I couldn’t take any more,
Asking them for a stiff drink or three,
Lying awake well after midnight,
Wondering what I could have changed
If I had been there moments before.
For hours in silence, walking to my neighbors
When I couldn’t take any more,
Asking them for a stiff drink or three,
Lying awake well after midnight,
Wondering what I could have changed
If I had been there moments before.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2008
November 2008
classical tropes
All You Need
(and Money)
(and Money)
Love, when spoken,
Speaks loudly,
Shattering the quiet
That is one.
Speaks loudly,
Shattering the quiet
That is one.
Love shakes the world,
Tumbles mountains,
Tears the veil
Separating us
From each other.
Tumbles mountains,
Tears the veil
Separating us
From each other.
Love, held silent,
Rusts the soul,
Denying our human
Need.
Rusts the soul,
Denying our human
Need.
Love is all,
Love is a comet
Burning through the night
As we fall helplessly
Into the sun.
Love is a comet
Burning through the night
As we fall helplessly
Into the sun.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2008
When people ask me, Ann,
did you ever think you were going to be a general officer,
say nothing about a four-star, I say not in my wildest dreams.
did you ever think you were going to be a general officer,
say nothing about a four-star, I say not in my wildest dreams.
There is no one more surprised than I, except, of course, my husband.
And you know what they say,
behind every successful woman there's an astonished man.
behind every successful woman there's an astonished man.
-- General Ann Dunwoody U.S. Army
weathercaster, a little known instrument made by Fender
Moving Day
Spring!
-- In the middle of November.
Such are the odd days and crannies
Of Metropolitan
Washington
On its way to January.
-- In the middle of November.
Such are the odd days and crannies
Of Metropolitan
On its way to January.
One president leaving,
One arriving,
Perpetual motion
Since Jefferson and Adams,
In and out of the White House,
Two through forty-four.
One arriving,
Perpetual motion
Since Jefferson and Adams,
In and out of the White House,
Two through forty-four.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2008
November 2008
everyone out of the closet
The Prop 8 Rag
Shall we dance
Under the moonlight
In the cool dark night
Until the morning comes?
Under the moonlight
In the cool dark night
Until the morning comes?
Shall we kiss
Under the starlight
Neath open skies
Before everyone?
Neath open skies
Before everyone?
Or shall we hide away
Until tomorrow
And forget about the love
We found tonight?
Until tomorrow
And forget about the love
We found tonight?
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2008
November 2008
The night was black, rain fallin' down
Looked for my baby, she's nowhere around
Traced her footsteps down to the shore
'Fraid she's gone forever more.
Rockabilly Singer Jody Reynolds
Endless Sleep
1956
1956
Died November 7, 2008
Age 75
Age 75
no ceiling
The Archbishop Comes to Hypatia
Pagan,
Philosopher,
Mathematician
And Astronomer,
Philosopher,
Mathematician
And Astronomer,
Heir to ancient intellectual tradition,
Martyred by Cyril of
Alexandria
In the name of doctrinal conformity,
An uppity woman if there ever was one.
Martyred by Cyril of
In the name of doctrinal conformity,
An uppity woman if there ever was one.
A woman of beauty
In mind and body,
First the libraries then
First the libraries then
Hypatia,
Dragged from her carriage,
Hauled into a church,
Stripped naked and battered
By the Archbishop’s mob
Hauled into a church,
Stripped naked and battered
By the Archbishop’s mob
Till her voice was still and silent,
Her body mutilated limb from limb,
Her body mutilated limb from limb,
Her fragments scrupulously burned
to cold, unreasoning ashes.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2008
November 2008
ships in the night
Changing Tides
Which road do I take? She asked.
Where do you want to go? was his response.
I don't know, Alice answered.
Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter.
-- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Inbound!
Cabinet appointees
And White House staff
And White House staff
At ten and two.
Everyone take cover
Until everything settles
-- In the meantime
Would someone
Please check our six?
Until everything settles
-- In the meantime
Would someone
Please check our six?
I hate it when the
Administration changes,
Forcing us to deal
With a shiny new deck
Full of kings and queens
Who arrived well armed
With very few questions
They don’t think
They already know
All the answers to.
Administration changes,
Forcing us to deal
With a shiny new deck
Full of kings and queens
Who arrived well armed
With very few questions
They don’t think
They already know
All the answers to.
We're all made here.
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2008
November 2008
A Dunwoody has fought in every American war since the Revolution.
Her father is a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
Her sister Sue was the third female helicopter pilot in the Army.
Her niece Jenny is an Air Force A-10 pilot
who recently returned from flying combat missions in Afghanistan.
General Ann Dunwoody is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross.
a little night music
Love Seen as an Open Star Gate
Love all wrapped, leg to leg,
Breast to breast,
All fingers and tongue
And soft most lips.
Breast to breast,
All fingers and tongue
And soft most lips.
An hour, two,
A night captured in bed,
A lifetime arm in arm
Until separated by death.
A night captured in bed,
A lifetime arm in arm
Until separated by death.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2008
November 2008
body chemistry
Hey Babe
If I were young
And disassociated from the church,
I would bed every poet along the road,
Make love to every singer and song,
Caressing the brightest star,
And disassociated from the church,
I would bed every poet along the road,
Make love to every singer and song,
Caressing the brightest star,
A groupie for my art;
I would ride every astronaut
High above earth’s orbit,
Make a home on red Cydonia
And bear our first Martians;
I would ride every astronaut
High above earth’s orbit,
Make a home on red Cydonia
And bear our first Martians;
And if I were bound
Foot and head to this planet,
I would complete a double play
With any third baseman or shortstop
I found working in Yankee Stadium.
Foot and head to this planet,
I would complete a double play
With any third baseman or shortstop
I found working in Yankee Stadium.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2008
November 2008
If anyone is worried about the next generation of warriors,
fear not.
fear not.
The bench is loaded with talented sailors, airmen, soldiers, and Marines.
And while I know I may be the first woman to achieve this honor,
I know with certainty I won't be the last.
And while I know I may be the first woman to achieve this honor,
I know with certainty I won't be the last.
-- General Ann Dunwoody U. S. Army
115 women have laid down their lives for their country so far
in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
we live in astounding times
Luminosities
Astronomers using the Gemini and Keck observatories have obtained
the first direct images of a planetary family around a normal star.
-- Gemini Observatory Press Release
Thursday, November 13, 2008
the first direct images of a planetary family around a normal star.
-- Gemini Observatory Press Release
Thursday, November 13, 2008
130 light years away from Earth,
A young, massive star,
Whose only name is HR 8799,
Has posed for a family portrait
With three of its planets
A young, massive star,
Whose only name is HR 8799,
Has posed for a family portrait
With three of its planets
-- We have the photos,
The infared proof of existence,
Three worlds still glowing
From the heat of their creation,
Three new worlds all moving with,
All orbiting around, a single close-by sun.
The infared proof of existence,
Three worlds still glowing
From the heat of their creation,
Three new worlds all moving with,
All orbiting around, a single close-by sun.
A massive disk of cold virgin dust
Still lurks and circles the young star,
A cradle of future birthing and possibility;
The faint planet light now beckons us
To set sail across the brightest heavens,
As once we crossed both sea and ocean,
Expanding out from our common origin
To discover what goodly peoples
Might greet us on their many waiting worlds.
Still lurks and circles the young star,
A cradle of future birthing and possibility;
The faint planet light now beckons us
To set sail across the brightest heavens,
As once we crossed both sea and ocean,
Expanding out from our common origin
To discover what goodly peoples
Might greet us on their many waiting worlds.
The universe is littered with eventuality.
Lisa Jain Thompson
November 2008
November 2008
Two of the three planets (b and c).
The blanked out spot in the middle is HR8799
© Lisa Jain Thompson 1995-2008.
Further distribution of this newsletter in its entirety is authorized.
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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