Friday, August 6, 2021
Sneaky Thieves Steal Hair From Foxes, Raccoons, Dogs, Even You. (Annie Roth for the NYT.)
Woman left dead mom wrapped in newspaper while she sapped her bank account. (Mark Lungariello for the New York Post.)
"An Arkansas woman left her mother’s dead body wrapped in newspaper for months while she slept in the same house and sapped her mom’s bank account, authorities said."
In Arkansas when your are dead
no coffin do you get, instead
they have you all appareled
in the Pine Bluff Daily Herald.
*
Like the pharaohs of past ages
your hollowed corpse is stuffed with pages
of the local news and then
it's ready for the grand Amen.
*
Folk in Arkansas are canny;
when it's time to take old Granny
to her final resting place
she's wrapped up like a chunk of plaice.
*
You might say stiffs in Arkansas
have joined the Fourth Estate -- haw! haw!
Eternal headlines they will read
while worms and bugs inside them breed.
*
Let's hope the news won't cause reflection
that makes them miss the Resurrection!
Thursday, August 5, 2021
Prose Poem: Democracy dies in darkness. It turns out, foxes steal newspapers in darkness, too. (John Kelly for the WaPo.)
I found a fox sitting on my front porch
reading my newspaper
this morning.
"Would you like some coffee?"
I asked it facetiously.
"Earl Grey tea, if you don't mind"
replied the fox.
Another fox strolled out
from the bushes and joined
the first one.
"Could I have the sports
section, please?" it asked
the first fox.
This was getting too much for me,
so I went back inside to make
vichyssoise to serve chilled at dinner --
that always calms me down.
When I came back out on the porch
the foxes were gone,
and so was my newspaper.
My dog Rufus came up to me;
it smelled like it had been rooting
around inside a dead skunk.
"Well" I said to it, "can you talk
now too? Where did those foxes
go with my newspaper?"
Rufus just barked at me,
then went over to the corner
of the porch with direct sunlight
and lit up a meerschaum pipe.
So I decided that if animals can
act like humans,
humans can act like animals.
If you want me
I'll be hanging upside down
with my hands and feet
from a branch of the sycamore tree,
like a three-toed sloth.
I've left instructions for the
newspaper to be delivered on
top of my stomach each morning.
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
Touring Trinity, the Birthplace of Nuclear Dread. (Dennis Overbye, for the NYT.)
"A recent visit to the site of the first atomic bomb explosion offered desert vistas, (mildly) radioactive pebbles and troubling reflections."
Nuclear fission contains/the work of the world's finest brains/Whether a blessing/or menace distressing/depends on who's holding the reins.
Monday, August 2, 2021
Former Clown Peggy Williams Looks Back on Her Decade in the Ringling Bros. Circus. (Stacey Althen, for Sarasota Magazine.)
Study paints stark picture of how some get mired in collections because they can’t pay medical bills. (Erin Blakemore in the WaPo.)
Police shootings continue daily, despite a pandemic, protests and pushes for reform. (WaPo)
"Since 2015, police have fatally shot more than 6,400 people."
I remember long ago
our grade school textbooks pealed
with praises for the men in blue --
our nation's finest shield.
*
But now I am distressed to find,
according to statistics,
the cops don't care a fig for law
but only for ballistics.
*
It's like the days of Wyatt Earp
and necktie parties, too;
police are shooting from the hip
at every bugaboo.
*
There's too much gun play in the land;
too many screws are loose --
I hope police and public can
work out some kind of truce.
*
For otherwise this frail old man
that I've become today
will simply lock my door for good
and in my bunker stay . . .
Sunday, August 1, 2021
Facebook’s Next Target: The Religious Experience. (Elizabeth Dias, for the NYT.)
The company is intensifying formal partnerships with faith groups across the United States and shaping the future of religious experience.
Facebook walks on water;
of this you can be sure.
With faith-based cooperation,
they offer a free cure.
*
Live streaming congregations
engaged in worship plain;
the hungry will be sated
and invalids lose pain.
*
So stay at home and ponder
the miracles achieved
when Facebook gets religion
(and makes the devil peeved!)
*
It's cyber-manna certain;
a feast upon your screen.
With cursor you can study
real saints like Augustine.
*
A portal for opinions
that reek of piety;
who needs misinformation
when dogma is so free?
Saturday, July 31, 2021
Can The Left Regulate Sex? (Ross Douthat, for the NYT.)
The battle of the genders
has so many loud contenders.
*
The balances and checks
for contemporary sex
are so silly and complex
that Don Juan they would perplex.
*
We all need a vacation
from sexual liberation.
*
A few well-placed taboos
would be such refreshing news.
*
And perhaps 'twould be in fashion
to abjure all crimes of passion.
*
Do you think I am a boor
to go back to days of yore
when the talk of birds and bees
was feared more than Bright's Disease?
*
I suppose I must be daft
to think all this darn sexcraft
that intrudes upon my world
should be lowered and then furled.
*
I guess that I'll go in the closet
and my geezer butt deposit
while I wait for times to change
and sexuality to grow less strange . . .