Newsflash:
Friday, 02 March 2007 11:11
Last Updated on Sunday, 04 March 2007 08:19
The
Starpoet
Newsletter
Vol. VIII, No. X
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Have you ever been caught out
Alone in the desert
With only the full moon
And Joshua trees
To help you find your way?
Alone in the desert
With only the full moon
And Joshua trees
To help you find your way?
Love is more than that
Most always
Most always
Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2007 C. E.
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'twixt winter and spring - 60 F outside in Northern Virginia
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at your local theaters
Catch-Me-If-You-Can
An enormous need for attention,
Immature, filled with rage,
Egotistical, narcisstic and manipulative,
Psycho if there ever was one.
Immature, filled with rage,
Egotistical, narcisstic and manipulative,
Psycho if there ever was one.
Taunting the police,
Enjoying the publicity received,
Superior, unstoppable, uncatchable,
Still at large.
Two teenagers in a lovers lane,
A shot in the head,
Five times in the back,
A messy crime scene filled with blood,
Seven months later,
A car parked at a golf course,
One dead, one survived,
Random open fire
The shores of Lake Berryessa,
A couple stabbed by a strange hooded man,
A taxi driver shot in Presidio Heights,
Northeast corner of Washington and Cherry.
A car parked at a golf course,
One dead, one survived,
Random open fire
The shores of Lake Berryessa,
A couple stabbed by a strange hooded man,
A taxi driver shot in Presidio Heights,
Northeast corner of Washington and Cherry.
White male, somewhere around thirty,
Reddish hair, stocky build, heavy glasses,
Wearing dark clothing, dissappearing down Cherry,
Dropping off the face of the earth.
A portion of the bloody shirt,
Sent to all the newspapers,
With threats to blow up school buses,
Shoot the children as they got off.
Letters, clues, bragging rights for murderers,
Rumors, accusations, dead end pursuits,
Then nothing, silence, a disappearance in time,
The Zodiac waits inside us to be loosed again .
Lisa Jain Thompson
March 2007
March 2007
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our lives
The Length of the Run
How much time?
How many more years
Will I watch her cigarette smoke
Drift past our backyard window?
How many more years
Will I watch her cigarette smoke
Drift past our backyard window?
We are already playing
On the casino's money,
Counting cards,
Folding when we must,
Doubling only when
The odds favor us.
On the casino's money,
Counting cards,
Folding when we must,
Doubling only when
The odds favor us.
How much longer can our luck run?
-- A decade? Two?
-- A decade? Two?
Or six months?
How much longer?
How much longer?
Lisa Jain Thompson
March 2007
March 2007
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The older we get, the more we tend to be victims
of our own fixed worldviews, unable to see
how the younger creatures of our species
are at once us and also not us in the slightest.
of our own fixed worldviews, unable to see
how the younger creatures of our species
are at once us and also not us in the slightest.
If you see it all through a lens of fear
or lack of nimble perspective,
suddenly it's all drooling MySpace sexual predators
and binge-drinking frat-boy idiots
and millions of lost brain-rotted teens
snorting ketamine
off each other's stolen iPods
and then shooting each other in the face
after playing 6 million hours of Grand Theft Auto,
one giant violent sexed-up gum-snapping
body-pierced eating-disorder STD-ready freak show
ready to implode at the drop of a hat or the shave of a Britney.
-- Mark Morford
SF Gate
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A neutral stance over the bodily resurrection of Christ
is not a fair-minded, rational approach;
it is a mark of intellectual and personal cowardice.
is not a fair-minded, rational approach;
it is a mark of intellectual and personal cowardice.
-- Dr Justin Thacker
Head of Theology
The Evangelical Alliance
Head of Theology
The Evangelical Alliance
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the answers are out there
Mariamene
Mariamene,
When marriage inconvenienced them
-- Men, after all, down to their bones --
They called you whore when you were wife,
Wanting defend his holiness at the expense of truth
By attacking the rumors he knew a woman,
One who spent her nights with her body
Wrapped in the arms of the carpenter's son.
That he might kiss your supple breasts
Was more than men of the book could accept
--Middle-aged fishermen righteously they --
A prophet needs better be stoned than married,
A woman will only lead a good man astray,
Even the root of Jesse.
Lisa Jain Thompson
March 2007
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But if there is no resurrection of the dead,
not even Christ has been raised;
and if Christ has not been raised,
then our preaching is vain,
your faith also is vain.
not even Christ has been raised;
and if Christ has not been raised,
then our preaching is vain,
your faith also is vain.
-- Paul
1 Corinthians 15: 13-14:
1 Corinthians 15: 13-14:
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but you have to look
The Admonition
"My dear Kepler,
what would you say of the learned here,
who, replete with the pertinacity of the asp,
have steadfastly refused to cast
a glance through the telescope?
What shall we make of this?
Shall we laugh, or shall we cry?"
--Letter from Galileo Galilei to Johannes Kepler
what would you say of the learned here,
who, replete with the pertinacity of the asp,
have steadfastly refused to cast
a glance through the telescope?
What shall we make of this?
Shall we laugh, or shall we cry?"
--Letter from Galileo Galilei to Johannes Kepler
Oh my god, Ratskiller,
What if they've found the body?
What will become
Of our ermine and velvet
If the bones are the holy family's?
We will have to deny this, of course,
Cry out Heresy! and other accusations;
Whatever we do we need to
Remind our scientists
Who is funding their labs and research.
Above all, let's make sure
We are united in our opposition
To this obviously inauthentic fabrication.
May I suggest, at first,
A well phrased cautious admonition,
Followed by a discrete and reasoned Papal Bull,
And, if needed,
Of course, excommunication,
We need to nip this in the bud
Before the world goes all Galileo.
What if they've found the body?
What will become
Of our ermine and velvet
If the bones are the holy family's?
We will have to deny this, of course,
Cry out Heresy! and other accusations;
Whatever we do we need to
Remind our scientists
Who is funding their labs and research.
Above all, let's make sure
We are united in our opposition
To this obviously inauthentic fabrication.
May I suggest, at first,
A well phrased cautious admonition,
Followed by a discrete and reasoned Papal Bull,
And, if needed,
Of course, excommunication,
We need to nip this in the bud
Before the world goes all Galileo.
Lisa Jain Thompson
March 2007
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In terms of scripture Jesus ascended from this world.
It was not only a spiritual ascension and resurrection,
but a physical one,
so there can't be any remains of Christ.
The person making these claims
sounds like a fraudster looking for publicity.
I don't think any Christian
would take these claims seriously
because it goes against biblical teaching.
-- Rubin Phillip
Anglican Bishop
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
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and if you refuse to look ...
The Demon-Haunted World
In terms of scripture,
Depending whose you choose,
The world changes.
Where science finds fact,
The gods must revise
Or we must reinterpet
What our gods really meant.
For the universe is not subject
To the canonical desires
Of bishops' and preachers'
Professions of faith:
Those who would have the earth
Bend a knee to their religion
Would limit both the human mind
And the majesty of their god.
Depending whose you choose,
The world changes.
Where science finds fact,
The gods must revise
Or we must reinterpet
What our gods really meant.
For the universe is not subject
To the canonical desires
Of bishops' and preachers'
Professions of faith:
Those who would have the earth
Bend a knee to their religion
Would limit both the human mind
And the majesty of their god.
Lisa Jain Thompson
March 2007
March 2007
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What I'm saying is,
if God wanted to send us a message,
and ancient writings were the only way
he could think of doing it,
he could have done a better job.
if God wanted to send us a message,
and ancient writings were the only way
he could think of doing it,
he could have done a better job.
-- Carl Sagan
Contact
Contact
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Dead People Listed at the Oscars
Glenn Ford, Bruno Kirby, Alida Valli, Betty Comden,
Jane Wyatt, Don Knotts, Red Buttons, Gill Pontecorvo,
Darren McGavin, Richard Fleischer, Sven Nykvist, Joe Barbera,
Tamara Dobson, Gretchen Rau, June Allyson, Gordon Parks,
Philippe Noiret, Maureen Stapleton, Jack Wild, Vincent Sherman,
James Doohan, Shohei Inamura, Carlo Ponti, Peter Boyle,
James Glennon, Sidney Sheldon, Jack Palance, Mako,
Jack Warden, Basil Poledouris, Henry Bumstead, Jay Presson Allen,
Robert Altman
Jane Wyatt, Don Knotts, Red Buttons, Gill Pontecorvo,
Darren McGavin, Richard Fleischer, Sven Nykvist, Joe Barbera,
Tamara Dobson, Gretchen Rau, June Allyson, Gordon Parks,
Philippe Noiret, Maureen Stapleton, Jack Wild, Vincent Sherman,
James Doohan, Shohei Inamura, Carlo Ponti, Peter Boyle,
James Glennon, Sidney Sheldon, Jack Palance, Mako,
Jack Warden, Basil Poledouris, Henry Bumstead, Jay Presson Allen,
Robert Altman
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somebody's bio
Politik
I ain't no Southern diplomat,
Demanding concessions
In exchange for slavery,
Demanding concessions
In exchange for slavery,
No gilded tongue reformer
Asking to be bought off
With money and power.
Asking to be bought off
With money and power.
I ain't no ego tripping fiery leader,
Courting the media,
Pretending concern,
No photogenic Hollywood starlet
Making ammends
For her million dollar salary.
Courting the media,
Pretending concern,
No photogenic Hollywood starlet
Making ammends
For her million dollar salary.
And I ain't no religious zealot,
Holding all the answers
And then some,
No vegan eating academic theorist
Blogging the righteousness
Holding all the answers
And then some,
No vegan eating academic theorist
Blogging the righteousness
Of my cause.
I have only a poet's sureness
That somehow
She is making a difference,
That if you cry out in the wilderness,
That somehow
She is making a difference,
That if you cry out in the wilderness,
Some will take the time
To listen.
To listen.
I have no adolescent illusions
About the chances for my success,
A poet's life
Floats on the whims of vagary,
Little connected
with her poet's craft.
About the chances for my success,
A poet's life
Floats on the whims of vagary,
Little connected
with her poet's craft.
Lisa Jain Thompson
March 2007
March 2007
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More Sagan Quotes
Skeptical scrutiny is the means,
in both science and religion,
by which deep thoughts can be winnowed
from deep nonsense.
in both science and religion,
by which deep thoughts can be winnowed
from deep nonsense.
The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.
In a democracy, opinions that upset everyone
are sometimes exactly what we need.
We should be teaching our children
the scientific method and the Bill of Rights.
are sometimes exactly what we need.
We should be teaching our children
the scientific method and the Bill of Rights.
If you want to save your child from polio,
you can pray or you can inoculate....
Try science.
If we long to believe
that the stars rise and set for us,
that we are the reason there is a Universe,
does science do us a disservice in
deflating our conceits?
....For me, it is far better
to grasp the Universe as it really is
than to persist in delusion,
however satisfying and reassuring.
that the stars rise and set for us,
that we are the reason there is a Universe,
does science do us a disservice in
deflating our conceits?
....For me, it is far better
to grasp the Universe as it really is
than to persist in delusion,
however satisfying and reassuring.
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travelling back again
A World Too Wide
When my mother was aged with Alzheimer's,
And her body not fully controlled,
Our unspoken, genetic, cultural taboos
Found me reluctant to help her bathe;
To see my mother naked, ancient as she was,
Overpowered my mind, drove my emotions,
Rending intellect separate from hope or reason;
To know her diapers must by now be wet
Teared me into desperate inaction,
Pulled me sobbing from her side
Even as she tried to remember my name.
Behold my mother's grey-haired pussy,
Her wrinkled anatomy, her slagging flesh:
Once my mother, now another child,
Life, once given, wordlessly drifts away
Until all moment lies immobile
And I alone remain.
Lisa Jain Thompson
March 2007
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The ultimate service to troops and nation
is not winning the war,
but speaking the truth about the war
we have been asked to fight.
is not winning the war,
but speaking the truth about the war
we have been asked to fight.
LJT
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PEACE
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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.
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Starpoetby Lisa Jain Thompson.
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