StarPoet Newsletter Vol. XII, No. XXIX

Saturday, 16 July 2011 22:00 Last Updated on Saturday, 16 July 2011 17:00

The StarPoet Newsletter
Vol. XII, No. XXIX (July 17, 2011 C.E.)

mid-summer: heat, thunder, and autumn still months away

Sky and tree
The morning shines
Promising more
Than day might bring

Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2011 C.E.


The Renaissance waits near summer's end: heat, sun, and torrent rain.

my current hometown
The State of Springfield
The neighborhood had transitioned from gun-loving redneck, Anti-Yankee, revenuer avoiding, Jesus-white Christian homophobes To its present admix of immigrant blue color workers Willing to take the same entry level jobs our grandparents did, Military and civilian U. S. employees and medicared retirees Struggling to hold on to a semblance of their middle-class existence, Young families with their multiple, Americanized young children, Queers and last century's minorities and a scattering of in-country expats Who live as strangers in their own land and act angrily surprised When the rest of the nation doesn't conform to their philosophical needs Before we arrived, two aging, not nearly white enough white women Living their quiet lives of semi-depressive repetitive motion, Counting each morning a qualified success, each evening, a good time to rest Before pushing off into the next world to conquer, our next career somewhere Farther down this long slow slide into forced retirement, physical decrepitude, And the ever increasing daily possibility that some random aneurysm, Some aging defect in the deep structure will strip us of our humanity, Our liberty, our freedom, our mobility and what remains of our volition.
— Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)

I can do one of two things. I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice [his teenage daughter]. I cannot possibly do both. -- Teddy Roosevelt

someone's bio
The Girl
Brilliant and talented, The girl can do no wrong, Except, of course, she could, Often at times but she was good At not getting caught or, if she should, Talking her way back out to relative innocence, All dimples and smiles and pretty brown eyes, She was a piece of work, finely honed, And, her arrogance normally kept well hidden, A step or two ahead of her positional betters.
Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)

inside looking in
Sweet Fuck All
After all these years, After all their promises, What do we have to show for it? President after President, Sweet fuck all: Democrat, Republican, Conservative, liberal, Little change at the roots; Perfume from a different designer Sprayed aimless in the air, A steady rotation of familiar Scents and basic undertones Sold to us by a spokesman Who changes from year to year.
— Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)

I have men with guns that surround them (his daughters) often, and a great incentive for running for reelection is that it means they never get in the car with a boy who had a beer, and that's a pretty good thing. -- Barack Obama

first steps
Unfinished Lines
Kristin, A friend, And I Are not talking Thirty years Into our relationship; Shit happens, Tempers flare, First steps Are notoriously difficult.
Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)

Watching your daughter being collected by her date feels like handing over a million dollar Stradivarius to a gorilla. -- Jim Bishop

timelines
The Ocean
The Ocean, A universe itself, Does not care if humanity Lives or dies Or whether we prefer Lobster to crab legs Or beefsteak To tuna or pasta; We are just another Semi-aquatic ape Who arrived long after The ocean, Who will be gone While the ocean tides Still cross Earth's more ancient Shorelines.
Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)

pheromones
Whoop-Dee-Doo Song
The moment you smiled, The moment we touched, I wanted to be Your girlfriend tonight. The pheromones rushed, My young heart quickened, The Virgin flashed briefly Then vanished in the air. Tell me your name, Are you happy to see me? I've brought a condom Even if you haven't. Buy me a drink, Tell me a story, Sweep me from my feet, I'm mad in love tonight.
-- Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)

A lively and lasting sense of filial duty is more effectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter by reading King Lear, than by all the dry volumes of ethics, and divinity, that ever were written. -- Thomas Jefferson

national pastime
Raise High The Pennant
Refresh the polish on my nails, Plant the fresh oregano, Check the basil, check the tomato, Sip limeade inside the house. Wait for the thunderstorms, Look out for tornadoes, Grill the dinner sausage, Check for the river's risin'. Turn on to the ball game, Root for the Nationals, Smile knowingly about the series, Raise high the pennant in left.
Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)

differences
Quantum Pattern
Women must weigh choices That men seldom notice: The quantum pattern Is never random.
— Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)

My eleven year old daughter mopes around the house all day waiting for her breasts to grow. -- Bill Cosby

a poet's images
Suggestion
Tree on a hill, artistic'ly posed, Dark shadow, blue sky, Grassy landscape rolling below, Suggestion of clouds in the distance And an eagle high overhead In search of small game To bring back to the nest. Woman on a beach, an island Perhaps, off a coastline. Walking at sunset, Sky all pinks and yellows, Starlight settling in, Suggestion of a poet Choosing her choices As an ocean laps her feet.
— Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)

connections
Relic I am a relic, both sacred and profane, Of a time rapidly fading from our memory; A poet of somewhat historic immediacy, Extending past and future across the continuum. Would I link to Aeolic Greece, Quote Metamorphoses as well as England, Suck full honeyed text from Melville and Whitman, Walk the many worlds that lie beyond this one. Pierced by the universe, words flow freely, My blood is the blood of forgotten poets And muses grown ancient during this century: I am not of this time even as my breath escapes me.
— Lisa Jain Thompson (July 2011)
A father... knows exactly what those boys at the mall have in their depraved little minds because he once owned such a depraved little mind himself. In fact, if he thinks enough about the plans that he used to have for young girls, the father not only will support his wife in keeping their daughter home but he might even run over to the mall and have a few of those boys arrested. -- Bill Cosby


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.