StarPoet Newsletter Vol. XII, No. XL

Saturday, 01 October 2011 22:00 Last Updated on Saturday, 01 October 2011 23:14

The StarPoet Newsletter
Vol. XII, No. XL (October 2, 2011 C.E.)

Fall. Autumn. Not Summer. Baseball rises to fair conclusion and football stays between the lines.

Here be all saints and goblies
Waiting at the end
October comes, September vanishes
Winter waits just past the bend

Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2011 C.E.


if we were more rain we would be seattle

a word to the future
Famous Dead
Someday, when I'm a famous dead person And only my ghost rattles these pages, Some graduate intellectual from Cambridge Will peruse my well scribbled notebooks For some microcosmical hint of the hidden Meanings that surely these lines contain. Lots of luck, I write poems, not puzzles: Don't confuse me with some university supported English professor -- I work for a living And, if I chose to use metaphor to embed some Deep inner thought, my poems still work just as well Without any great need for exegisical delayering -- You don't need an academic degree To know which way a poem rolls.
— Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)

May you never steal, lie, or cheat, but if you must steal, then steal away my sorrows, and if you must lie, lie with me all the nights of my life, and if you must cheat, then please cheat death because I couldn't live a day without you. -- Irish Wedding Toast

the latest distraction
Waiting for the Sun
Sneeze Blink Cough Cough Hack Blow the nose Clear the throat Start all over Again Sneeze Blink Cough Hack Cough Wheeze Rattle Everything But Death
Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)

On the occasion of my last physical.
Poke Me
Poke me here, Poke me there, Scope me God knows where, A needle, a computer, A digital screen, A doctor, a practitioner, A nurse and technician, Who are all these people And why are they here, How hard can it be To diagnose me? It's only A ten year physical And I've seen already My GYN.
— Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)

Teenagers profile as sociopaths until they are eighteen at a minimum. -- Criminal Minds television series

If'n
If I had a Castle
If I had a castle I'd need a bunch of servants And an Army to protect me Along with a knight in armor; If had a Mercedes, I would need a good mechanic And someone who'd make sure I didn't get scammed on repairs; But if I had a designer kitchen And someone to clean up my messes, I would gladly spend my afternoons Preparing dinner for my Sharon, Assuming, of course, she'd let me cook With all my Sicilian skill set.
Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)

During his brief Rose Garden remarks on the deficit, Obama employed variants of the word 'fair' at least 10 times. 'The rich and fortunate must 'pay their fair share.' His critics defend 'unfairness.' It is 'about fairness.' Obama is not only using the language of sibling disputes -- 'That's not fair!' -- he is echoing the defining commitment of modern liberalism. The most influential liberal political philosopher, John Rawls, wrote of 'justice as fairness.'...There is, however, another tradition of American political thought: a belief in justice as opportunity. Instead of focusing on the fair distribution of wealth in a static economy, presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan set out to increase the economic rewards for enterprise and ambition. They honored risk-taking, not risk-aversion. -- Michael Gerson

one for missed ages
Some People
Some people see an arrow on the cement Where the sidewalks are marked for repair, I see a dinosaur track and wonder where they went And how long it's been since it appears I've just missed them by a bit, And, if I had known they were passing, I would have gone out of my way, carefully watching From the safety of distance, of course, To cheer them on their way. On T-Rex! On Bronto! On Raptor, on Ceratop! We who once hid in your shadows salute you.
Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)

starpoet
Pinwheel
The stars draw me to infinity, Away from the relative safety Of this gravity and oxygen envelope; We move towards uncertain destiny Among the many worlds, Among the many peoples who chart The heavens' movement and plan voyages To the planets they might find there, Hoping each one may provide a piece Of the puzzle that is creation.
-- Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)

The improvised, on-the-fly financial system that replaced Bretton Woods after 1971 has failed. The great challenge facing the world leaders gathering for the annual World Bank-International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington this weekend is to figure out what will replace it. For the past 40 years, capital has moved freely around the globe, with currencies fluctuating according to market forces and countries intervening to affect those flows according to their domestic interests. It has all proved remarkably prone to financial crises: in northern Europe in the early 1990s, Mexico in 1994, several East Asian nations in 1997, Russia in 1998, Argentina in 2001. And, most disastrously, nearly the entire planet in 2008. This is no way to run a global economy.. - Neil Irwin

the human condition
Here We Are
Here we are, Counting the days, Watching the news media Vie for our affection, Smoking buildings, Crashing planes, A crazy gone gun mad In Phoenix and Carson City, A dozen dead in Afghanistan, Twenty killed by a flood, A tidal wave earthquake in Malaysia, A hundred thousand gone starving In Africa and Asia: We have seen enough To fill several lifetimes' worth Of Bibles and Qur'ans and each day There's still more film at eleven. Our eyes cannot turn away.
Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)

forecast
I've Done
I've done a hurricane, I've done an earthquake, I've never done a flood before Deep enough that I could drown But so shallow, I could not float As the waters rush me down to push Me through the streets, and Although brimstone seems unlikely, An asteroid is overdue, And then, like the dinosaurs, - Poof - We'll all be gone
— Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)

As a result of several long-building, polarizing trends in American politics and culture, we have lost the ability to execute even the basic functions of government, much less solve the most difficult and divisive problems facing the country, -- Robert M. Gates

behind the news releases and public relations
Jesse and Me
Jesse and I would have long discussions Deep into the night about love and life, The meaning of sin, the possibilities of children, The pros and cons of beer, wine and marijuana, The challenges of monogamy, The difficulty of relationships, The electric excitement of pheromones and flushed bodies. We were never closer to creation Than when we were close together Lying wrapped in each others' arms, Talking about our future, just me and Jesse; We were the world, if not the universe, And all the stars seemed well within our reach: I would trade my life to talk to Jesse once again, God knows how I miss him.
— Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)

somehow we continue
Vap'rous Drop Profound There be rain Drizzle rain Misty rain Steady downpour Heavy thunder Tornado watch And warning rain The air is greenish gray Oxygen molecules taste moldy The lungs are filled With the stench of underbrush While the ground refuses To accept another drop Runs overrun Streams overbank The river swirls In muddy violence As the earth releases Trees and levees Yesterday Tomorrow Today Next Week The hurly burly Crashes down The planet bubbles Tempest tossed
— Lisa Jain Thompson (October 2011)
Those who think that they alone have the right answers, those who demonize those who think differently, and those who refuse to listen and take other points of view into account-these leaders, in my view, are a danger to the American people and to the future of our republic. -- Robert M. Gates


Copyright © Lisa Jain Thompson 1948-2011. Back issues are in the Newsletter Section of the StarPoet website. Visit my contact page and get in touch.