Newsflash:
Saturday, 02 December 2006 11:45
Last Updated on Sunday, 03 December 2006 07:56
The
Starpoet
Newsletter
Vol. VII, No. XLIX
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The sweetest apple
Is not as sweet
As the juice that flows
From your lips on mine
An apple's flesh
Is not as delicious
As the taste
Of your warm body
On my tongue
Lisa Jain Thompson c. 2006
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A farmer from Arkansas and a Princeton economist
are discussing the economics of horticulture.
After the farmer makes a complex point about crop yield,
the Princeton economist says:
"Well, sure it works in practice,
but will it work in theory?"
are discussing the economics of horticulture.
After the farmer makes a complex point about crop yield,
the Princeton economist says:
"Well, sure it works in practice,
but will it work in theory?"
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December already, the year is going fast. Have you book your appointment with Santa yet or would you rather he just use Amazon and skip the housecall?
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some starpoet to start
Singing Blind
I want to die with the stars above my head
And the earth a speck in the deep space sky,
And the earth a speck in the deep space sky,
Where the Milky Way fills my entire heaven
And her lights burn my eyes at night.
And her lights burn my eyes at night.
I want to die with the universe all around me,
Not trapped in some gravity well of gas and dirt,
Where space and time encircle my senses
And my soul can escape to infinity and beyond.
Not trapped in some gravity well of gas and dirt,
Where space and time encircle my senses
And my soul can escape to infinity and beyond.
I want to die where the air is clear and free
And golden starships rise each morning
Only to return when the warm sun sets,
And golden starships rise each morning
Only to return when the warm sun sets,
Where rivers flow filled with spawning salmon
And politicians debate how the world began
And how all of this we know someday will end.
And politicians debate how the world began
And how all of this we know someday will end.
Lisa Jain Thompson
December 2006
December 2006
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Gettysburg, the other civil war
After the Storm
Seven Thousand dead men,
More like tens,
Flies, urine,
Flies, urine,
Dead horses steaming in the sun,
Putrid animal flesh mingling
With the sweet smell of human decay.
Putrid animal flesh mingling
With the sweet smell of human decay.
Strange, awful odors
Overpowering the air,
Overpowering the air,
Growing stronger each hour in the heat;
Dead bodies scattered everywhere,
Horse, mules, legs and arms,
Dead bodies scattered everywhere,
Horse, mules, legs and arms,
Fragments of skin and fingers
Torn and charred by explosive fury.
In the fields, in the houses,
In the fields, in the houses,
In the barns and the avenues of white tents,
Twenty-one thousand lie wounded,
More dying each day.
Twenty-one thousand lie wounded,
More dying each day.
We must burn the bodies,
Light the fire over them,
Pour kerosene on the bodies,
Let them go up in smoke.
The scent of burning flesh,
The smell of rotting carcasses,
The foul stink of battle
Floats over the city
Like some noisome mist
The smell of rotting carcasses,
The foul stink of battle
Floats over the city
Like some noisome mist
That hugs the twisting river valley.
Some come to help, some come to gawk,
Some to plunder but most come
Just looking for lost armies
In the bloodstained fields,
Life canvases full of mangled soldiers
And newly dug graves.
The earth is plowed to a mire
Of tracks and army wheels,
Some come to help, some come to gawk,
Some to plunder but most come
Just looking for lost armies
In the bloodstained fields,
Life canvases full of mangled soldiers
And newly dug graves.
The earth is plowed to a mire
Of tracks and army wheels,
Dead and dying, dead and wounded,
Torn to pieces in every way.
Torn to pieces in every way.
Their limbs piled high,
Still dripping from the surgeon’s hand.
The world is damaged goods
And we are lost in dark clouded night;
Someone must come explain
Why this bloodletting must go on
Still dripping from the surgeon’s hand.
The world is damaged goods
And we are lost in dark clouded night;
Someone must come explain
Why this bloodletting must go on
Lisa Jain Thompson
December 2006
December 2006
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The past cannot be changed, and the victims of the conflict,
from both sides of the border, cannot be returned.
from both sides of the border, cannot be returned.
Dictates are futile and mutual accusations
are nothing but useless word games.
Historic scores cannot be settled and scars cannot be obliterated.
are nothing but useless word games.
Historic scores cannot be settled and scars cannot be obliterated.
All we can do today is prevent further tragedies
and bequeath to the younger generation
a bright horizon and hope for a new life.
Let us convert animosity
and the "honing of our swords"
to mutual recognition, respect and direct dialogue.
and bequeath to the younger generation
a bright horizon and hope for a new life.
Let us convert animosity
and the "honing of our swords"
to mutual recognition, respect and direct dialogue.
-- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
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Meanwhile in Russia
The head of Russia's union of wine and spirits producers has called on the country's lawmakers to legislate for the introduction of "people's vodka". Osman Paragulgov says the introduction of a cheap, but safe and regulated drink, would help poorer Russians currently unable to buy genuine vodka.
Russians often turn to substitutes - often with fatal results. Several Russian regions have declared states of emergency recently after a spate of fake vodka poisonings.
Mr Paragulgov says the worst-hit areas should be used as a testing ground for "people's vodka", or, as he says it would be better named, "social vodka". He says the move would help to establish whether the death toll - now running into thousands of people a month - could be reduced.
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reading about Edward III
All My Good Wishes
They do not love that do not show their love.
-- W.S.
-- W.S.
How dost one flaunt one’s homosexuality?
Let me count the ways:
Kissing in public like heterosexuals
Rather than the darkness of the closet;
Rather than the darkness of the closet;
Holding hands on the street like NY straight couple
And not pretending to be other than we are;
And not pretending to be other than we are;
Acting out like young lovers, wherever they are,
Following our star to our own happy memories;
Following our star to our own happy memories;
Placing photos of spouses, partners, and family
On our desk like some normal person might;
Not going gaga over some boy group sensations
Like all the other girls in middle high school,
Not joining in the pursuit of hunting and football,
Like every true blue macho male must do.
How does one flaunt one’s homosexuality?
-- By being alive and existing as much as you,
And refusing to be shunned back into submission
Or giving up our liberty to avoid offending you.
On our desk like some normal person might;
Not going gaga over some boy group sensations
Like all the other girls in middle high school,
Not joining in the pursuit of hunting and football,
Like every true blue macho male must do.
How does one flaunt one’s homosexuality?
-- By being alive and existing as much as you,
And refusing to be shunned back into submission
Or giving up our liberty to avoid offending you.
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.
--W.S.
Lisa Jain Thompson
December 2006
December 2006
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last ever words
The G’d Ol’ Boy Dyzfunkshyal Waltz
The greatest crime
Is wasting lives
And leaving your mess
For someone else to fix
And leaving your mess
For someone else to fix
To spend your life
Letting others clean-up
The broken corporations
Letting others clean-up
The broken corporations
The busted up nations
That followed your drunken
That followed your drunken
Get out of jail free waltz
Through what the rest of us
Call the world outside,
The one we all must live in
After you retreat to the safety
Of your west Texas haven.
Through what the rest of us
Call the world outside,
The one we all must live in
After you retreat to the safety
Of your west Texas haven.
Lisa Jain Thompson
December 2006
December 2006
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On The Male Contraceptive Pill
Women, Would you trust it?
Karena Long, 18
"I wouldn't believe that he had taken it because you hear about girls taking the pill when they haven't - so men might do the same; they might say it just to get a girl into bed."
"I wouldn't believe that he had taken it because you hear about girls taking the pill when they haven't - so men might do the same; they might say it just to get a girl into bed."
Natasha Kalyati, 30
"The situation wouldn't occur with someone I didn't trust as I don't have one-night stands, but also it wouldn't protect you against disease, which is as much of a worry for me as an unwanted pregnancy."
"The situation wouldn't occur with someone I didn't trust as I don't have one-night stands, but also it wouldn't protect you against disease, which is as much of a worry for me as an unwanted pregnancy."
Eileen Canfor, 49
"I wouldn't trust it, not just because I wouldn't trust the man to take it, but also because it wouldn't provide protection from disease."
"I wouldn't trust it, not just because I wouldn't trust the man to take it, but also because it wouldn't provide protection from disease."
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the publicly religious
Yeshua
Once upon a time,
There was a christian god
Who believed in love
Who drank and caroused
Who drank and caroused
With lepers, sinners
And even women
And even women
-- He died –
Nailed to a cross
Struck through the heart
Struck through the heart
By personal cults
And vested bureaucracy
And vested bureaucracy
Struggling to be the seat
Of a church he did not found
A church that diminishes women
Despises homosexuals
Condemns all others
Who gather in a god’s name
As heretics or pagan idolaters
Who gather in a god’s name
As heretics or pagan idolaters
A church who gathers habitual pederasts
And avaricious televangelists
Under one safe sheltering tent
So that above all else
And avaricious televangelists
Under one safe sheltering tent
So that above all else
The church will survive
No matter who
They may need nail to the cross
They may need nail to the cross
Lisa Jain Thompson
December 2006__/\/\/\/\__
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designed to offend PC puritans
Crystal City
I will not bow down
To your linguistic fatwas:
To your linguistic fatwas:
Deny a word, hide it away
Inn some PC weapons locker,
Only increases a word's lethality.
Inn some PC weapons locker,
Only increases a word's lethality.
F, N, MF and the rest
Are there in the world
Independent of me
Spelling them out
Or saying them.
Spelling them out
Or saying them.
Censoring my words,
Stopping anyone’s speech
Is only another
Big Mother attempt
To take scissors away
From children she thinks
Are too immature
To know what to do with them.
Big Mother attempt
To take scissors away
From children she thinks
Are too immature
To know what to do with them.
Nigger
Queer
Queer
Cocksucker
Cunt and bitch
Blunt the words
Make them public
Make them laughable
But don't give them any power
By making them attractive
In their forbiddeness
Make them public
Make them laughable
But don't give them any power
By making them attractive
In their forbiddeness
Faggot
Trannie
Diesel Dyke
Pansy
Trannie
Diesel Dyke
Pansy
We don't need no national language czar.
Lisa Jain Thompson
wop dago mick nigger guinea injun spic honky moor muff diving cocksucking chocolate dipping lesbo bi-dyke canuck ame-koh catlick yankee fan kuei feather raghead goyim greaseball mongrel roundeye smokejumping shiksa blanket-ass camel jockey cunt squaw
December 2006
December 2006
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The State Of Education in Europe
At the moment Oxford and Cambridge are the only European universities to feature in all rankings of the global top 10, otherwise dominated by American universities. But even Oxford and Cambridge are only holding on by the skin of their teeth. If things continue as at present, they too will surely fall behind. The soft power of antiquity, beauty, myth and a rich intellectual tradition can only do so much to counterbalance the hard power of superior expenditure, organisation and innovation.
Britain, like France and Germany, spends only 1.1% of its gross domestic product on tertiary education. The US spends 2.6% - 1.4% from private sources and 1.2% from public. In other words, American public expenditure on higher education is more than our public and private expenditure combined. Europe talks the talk of a "knowledge-based economy"; the US walks the walk. And it is being followed aggressively by the upthrusting Asian economies.
European societies may in the end choose to prefer mass, freely available, low-cost higher education as a social good and abandon the aspiration, which European universities have had since Wilhelm von Humboldt invented the model of the modern university 200 years ago, to combine university teaching with world-class research. If we simply carry on as we are at the moment, that is where we will surely end up. So let Europe at least, like Oxford, have a great debate and make a conscious choice.
--Timothy Garton Ash
In The Guardian
In The Guardian
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recently seen
Collateral Damage
Train lights in the fog
Halo’d along the rail,
Trees at Van Dorn Station
Silhouetted against the night.
Halo’d along the rail,
Trees at Van Dorn Station
Silhouetted against the night.
Rolling into King Street,
Blue line going slow,
Over on the Yellow,
Somebody’s been run down;
Blue line going slow,
Over on the Yellow,
Somebody’s been run down;
Unknown to those of us
Reading our morning Express
As we hurry towards the Pentagon,
Blood is dripping on the tracks.
Reading our morning Express
As we hurry towards the Pentagon,
Blood is dripping on the tracks.
Worried about our connections,
We don’t even give a glance
To the dying Metro worker
We don’t even give a glance
To the dying Metro worker
On the Eisenhower path.
He’s gone, we’re gone,
Off to work today,
We’ll return to home tonight
And watch the tearful tape.
Off to work today,
We’ll return to home tonight
And watch the tearful tape.
December 2006
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getting back to where
Back Then
When I was young
And my hair flowed long
And my body set off the young men,
I was too caught up in my inner world
To bother with more
Than occassional kisses
In the back seat of cars at the drive-ins.
And my hair flowed long
And my body set off the young men,
I was too caught up in my inner world
To bother with more
Than occassional kisses
In the back seat of cars at the drive-ins.
If I were to relive those moments now,
There would be a lot more fucking and diversity
Than the handful of choices I perceived I had
When this mindbody configuration thing
Was gifted me out of alignment.
Than the handful of choices I perceived I had
When this mindbody configuration thing
Was gifted me out of alignment.
Lisa Jain Thompson
December 2006
December 2006
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Tradition is the democracy of the dead.
--GK Chesterton
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© Lisa Jain Thompson 2006
Further distribution of this newsletter in its entirety is authorized.
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Starpoetby Lisa Jain Thompson.
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