July 1st, 2009
In a carefully orchestrated collision near Chicago
at 300 billion electron volts, dashing about,
a neutron, once part of Bishop Berkeley’s umbrella,
met a proton, some say from a tooth of the Venerable Bede
(others insist from Samuel Johnson’s sinuses, exhaled
and later enrolled in a drop of London rain)
met and, in that agitated state, botched everything:
fused, let fly one tense, ephemeral particle of truth
and failed to make a particle of difference |
 |
 |
Posted in NATURAL WONDERS | No Comments »
|
email
June 29th, 2009
The Meek shall inherit the Earth?
Shit, the Meek won’t last a week.
And what’s the inheritance worth?
Is the Earth what the meek should seek?
What the Meek shall inherit is earth,
and the Earth shall inherit the Meek
|
 |
 |
Posted in RIGHTS & DUTIES | No Comments »
|
email
June 26th, 2009
| |
“It now appears that an important function of bird
song is the proclamation of territorial ownership, thus
reducing energy wasted in fighting over the matter.”
|
| – Marston Bates, in American Scholar |
My heart aches and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, to hear the bird who quickened Keats
And know the true intent of those refrains:
“Keep off the grass that hides my morning meats!”
That burnished dove of Tennyson’s; the lark
That Shakespeare found at heaven’s gate; the finch
That Browning heard — each sang but one remark:
“No trespassing! I’ll fight for every inch!”
Go on, you Pecksniff canticlers: disgrace
Yourselves, mock mocking birds, eat seeds,
But sing to stir the bard to spur the race;
Your birdly words speak louder than your deeds
Whatever whip or will inspires birds,
Who knows the music, may he fake the words
|
 |
Posted in BIRDS & BEASTS | 2 Comments »
|
email
June 24th, 2009
For want of a verb
the phrase was lost.
For want of a phrase
the clause was lost.
For want of a clause
the premise was lost.
For want of a premise
the proof was lost.
For want of a proof
the reason was lost.
For want of a reason
for being, we’re lost …
Pause
Being being a verb,
the phrase was saved
and saved the clause.
Premise and proof
fell into place,
but the reason vanished
without a trace,
unreasonably,
against all laws,
and nothing was left
but the pause
|
 |
 |
Posted in GREAT BATTLES | No Comments »
|
email
June 22nd, 2009
|
Excerpted from Robbing Nonpeter to Pay Nonpaul (filed under “Articles”)
|
|
The trouble started when food production began to exceed food consumption. We have to eat up all the produce to keep prices stable. But government leaders knew that any attempt to correct the imbalance by encouraging people to eat more would be opposed by the powerful AMA lobby as socialized obesity. So the only way to compensate for all the nonconsumption was to create an equal amount of nonproduction. It was simple. They decided to tax consumers for not consuming, then use the money to pay farmers for not farming. It’s such a beautiful idea that we retain it, whether or not it works, for aesthetic reasons.
|
|
Posted in Excerpts | No Comments »
|
email