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The Starpoet Newsletter
Volume IX, No. XXIII
Volume IX, No. XXIII
Bobby Died
Forty years this week
Forty years this week
I cried
I cried
And still I cry
And still I cry
For myself and everyone
Who has ever thought
Who has ever thought
Their world has ended
Only to wake with strength
To somehow struggle on
Despite the bright focus
To somehow struggle on
Despite the bright focus
Of timeless memory
Lisa Jain Thompson C. 2008 C. E.
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.-- Aeschylus
Meanwhile, in medical news
The Cat In The Box
Sitting here,
With a note from doctor,
We need further evaluation
Of your screening mammogram,
A left breast special view
So we can have another look
And study your boob more closely.
I feel nothing,
Neither pain nor lump,
But have a week to wait
Until I am reshot;
A week to know
I have no family history,
My breasts are small but dense,
And I can do nothing but wait
Until the time is ripe
And everything is revealed.
Neither pain nor lump,
But have a week to wait
Until I am reshot;
A week to know
I have no family history,
My breasts are small but dense,
And I can do nothing but wait
Until the time is ripe
And everything is revealed.
For now,
I think of all the reasons
I should not worry,
Double checking the appointment
Is seven days from now,
Not tomorrow,
Reassuring myself that there is
Nothing more that can be done
To reassure me:
The die is already cast.
I think of all the reasons
I should not worry,
Double checking the appointment
Is seven days from now,
Not tomorrow,
Reassuring myself that there is
Nothing more that can be done
To reassure me:
The die is already cast.
In the real world in which we live,
The cat is either alive or already dead,
And we still won’t open the box
Until next Monday.
The cat is either alive or already dead,
And we still won’t open the box
Until next Monday.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
a wonderful monday morning
Synchless
Morning was out of rhythm,
Harder than it should be;
I barely made it through my make-up
And then forgot my earrings.
I was lucky to make it to the metro
(And remember to get off at my stop),
By the time I got it together it was lunch time,
Followed by a meeting, then a meeting, then home.
(And remember to get off at my stop),
By the time I got it together it was lunch time,
Followed by a meeting, then a meeting, then home.
Tomorrow I will remember my earrings (I hope),
But I might, just might, misplace my head.
But I might, just might, misplace my head.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
Bo Diddley
1928-2008
1928-2008
I'm a man,
I spell M-A-N...man.
I spell M-A-N...man.
Bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp. Bomp-bomp.
starpoet
Memories of the
Phoenix
Hey Lucy, come take a look at your grand children:
We've put three stations on the ground of Mars
And have two in high Mars orbit.
Not bad for a primate that fell from the forest
To scurry upright on our feet across the savanna
In small bands of curious and hungry hominids.
Would you recognize us, Grandma,
Or would you think its just a lot more damn foolishness
Like that business about leaving
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
Call me after there are news items reporting
female athletes jailed for engaging in dog-fighting
or arrested in strip club shootings.
female athletes jailed for engaging in dog-fighting
or arrested in strip club shootings.
LJT
starpoet, more or less
Proper Lorentz Transformations
The waters rise, the waters fall,
The automobile she come full stop
On the highway, on the interstate
Near the oil well, by the president.
The automobile she come full stop
On the highway, on the interstate
Near the oil well, by the president.
The sun will set, the sun may rise,
Tomorrow we live, today we die;
My sins forgiven, a saint I’ll be,
Jesus hisself be proud of me.
Tomorrow we live, today we die;
My sins forgiven, a saint I’ll be,
Jesus hisself be proud of me.
A starful of heaven, crossly lit,
Two hands of comet, earthward dropping,
Three sprays of galaxy, brightly twisting,
Turning planet, blue scented rose aflame.
Two hands of comet, earthward dropping,
Three sprays of galaxy, brightly twisting,
Turning planet, blue scented rose aflame.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
more commuting
Two-Thirds
Two-thirds asleep I drive
To the station where I make connection
To a ride on the bright morning rail
Into the face of armed automatic guards
Who are the visible Plan B
For the badges and coded readers.
To the station where I make connection
To a ride on the bright morning rail
Into the face of armed automatic guards
Who are the visible Plan B
For the badges and coded readers.
Morning came very early today
And seems to want to linger,
Lunch is still hours away
But fast becoming
The sharply growing focus
Of my stomach’s attention.
And seems to want to linger,
Lunch is still hours away
But fast becoming
The sharply growing focus
Of my stomach’s attention.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
Robert F. Kennedy
diversion #1
Exchanges
If you don’t, you’re a prude;
If you do, you’re a slut.
-- The Breakfast Club
If you do, you’re a slut.
-- The Breakfast Club
Did you do it? Did you do it?
Did you, did you do it?
How old were you, when you did,
If you did, did do it?
If you did, did do it?
Thirteen? Twenty?
Anyone Eleven?
Anyone Eleven?
Or were you Thirty,
Two decades wondering
If you’d ever?
Two decades wondering
If you’d ever?
Inboard, outboard, backboard, bordello,
If you do it, if you do it,
If you do it.
If you do it, if you do it,
If you do it.
If you don’t,
I don’t think I want to know;
I don’t think I want to know;
If you don’t,
What say you we do lunch tomorrow?
What say you we do lunch tomorrow?
What say you, if you don’t?
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
diversion #2
Magic Wands
Antonio Banderos, George Clooney, Brad Pitt,
I find myself anything but revolutionary
-- Quite conventional all in all --
Connery, Gable, and Eastwood
When I feel like someone older;
Chiwetel Ejiofor and McDreamy
When a taste of youth will do it.
I find myself anything but revolutionary
-- Quite conventional all in all --
Connery, Gable, and Eastwood
When I feel like someone older;
Chiwetel Ejiofor and McDreamy
When a taste of youth will do it.
But if I had to chose one, right at this moment,
For ever and a day,
I would like to hold House in my arms tonight
And ease his troubles away.
For ever and a day,
I would like to hold House in my arms tonight
And ease his troubles away.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
the weather outside
This Foul Night
Thunder explosion
Directly overhead,
Slamming the house
Like a B-52
Laying down hell
Along the tree line.
Directly overhead,
Slamming the house
Like a B-52
Laying down hell
Along the tree line.
Rumble of earth
As the sky falls down,
Rattle of windows
Just this side of broke,
Stressing the bejeezus
Out of the dog.
As the sky falls down,
Rattle of windows
Just this side of broke,
Stressing the bejeezus
Out of the dog.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
As Told By Gene Weingarten
A guy goes to the doctor. The doctor says,
"You've got to stop masturbating."
The guy asks why. The doctor says,
"Because I'm trying to examine you."
observations
That’ll Be The Day
Women forgive, men move on
-- Genetic engineering injects
Exquisite wrenches into the engines
Of the best intentioned equality.
-- Genetic engineering injects
Exquisite wrenches into the engines
Of the best intentioned equality.
The devil you say!
What great satan would trick us so,
To raise our expectations to such lofty levels,
Then gives us our all too human flesh
That links us to our most ancient biologies
Despite our sometimes best intentions?
What great satan would trick us so,
To raise our expectations to such lofty levels,
Then gives us our all too human flesh
That links us to our most ancient biologies
Despite our sometimes best intentions?
What charlatan would deny
That snakes sometimes bite us dead;
What child believe
In Cinderellas and Prince Charmings
After a weekend at a singles bar?
That snakes sometimes bite us dead;
What child believe
In Cinderellas and Prince Charmings
After a weekend at a singles bar?
What say you tell your daughters
To expect boys to act like girlfriends,
Sharing gossip and braiding hair
During platonic, nongamic sleepovers.
To expect boys to act like girlfriends,
Sharing gossip and braiding hair
During platonic, nongamic sleepovers.
No mention of panties, on or off,
No word of pregnancy, effect and cause;
No whisper of desire or erect anticipation,
No hint of hot urges unconcerned with procreation.
No word of pregnancy, effect and cause;
No whisper of desire or erect anticipation,
No hint of hot urges unconcerned with procreation.
What say you, will you tell your daughters
To go forth and trust all comers,
That the rules of the game, the male gaze,
Are the same for both men and women?
To go forth and trust all comers,
That the rules of the game, the male gaze,
Are the same for both men and women?
A woman may become a scientist,
An astronaut, and someday president,
But never will with cold dispassion
Insert herself into life and soul
And never call again.
An astronaut, and someday president,
But never will with cold dispassion
Insert herself into life and soul
And never call again.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
in the midst of lethargy
Shout at The Devil
Sinking beneath this heavy curtain
That falls limb and arm upon me,
I struggle to sit upright, alert and conversant
With any of a thousand brilliant poeticals
That pass through me enroute to vapor.
That falls limb and arm upon me,
I struggle to sit upright, alert and conversant
With any of a thousand brilliant poeticals
That pass through me enroute to vapor.
I would wax Shakespearean,
Lyrical, and even Sapphilian,
If ever I would find the energy
To put my dull pen to paper.
Lyrical, and even Sapphilian,
If ever I would find the energy
To put my dull pen to paper.
Lisa Jain Thompson
June 2008
June 2008
Bobby on the beach with Freckles
Life Magazine Cover
June 1968
Life Magazine Cover
June 1968
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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