"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.
"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 . . .
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?
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 . . .
"As courts prepare to allow evictions again, only 12 percent of $25 billion approved in December has reached people in need."
There was a man, a wicked man,
who called himself our Uncle Sam.
*
He had so many bags of gold
the count of them could not be told.
*
He got his gold from pockets picked,
and his conscience never pricked.
*
He liked to promise succor to
anyone he ran into.
*
Pauper, penguin, common thief --
he would grant them all relief.
*
Since he had great piles of cash,
no one thought his promise rash.
*
But his promised aid was slower
than a rusted push lawnmower.
*
In dribs and drabs he parceled out
nothing much but sauerkraut.
*
Pennies that could do no good
to restore one's livelihood.
*
Renters never saw a shred
and were evicted on their head.
*
But with a smile our Uncle claimed
the postal service should be blamed.
*
Or maybe global warming stopped
all the manna being dropped.
*
Anyway, those promised aid
never ever did get paid.
*
But Uncle Sam continues to
promise skies of sunny blue.
*
So go right up and ask him now
to provide from his cash cow.
*
He will write you a large check
(but won't explain the bottleneck.)
*
So when you try to cash it you
will meet with your own Waterloo.
"Every atom in the universe through heat and energy transfer, one day will become literally Bitcoin.”
Hass McCook.
Hass McCook, for one, does preach
that bitcoin heals the soul's sad breach.
*
He claims that cyber-coin contains
more power than most hurricanes
to lead us to the Promised Land
without restraint or reprimand.
*
We may be but Satoshi bits
but never are we counterfeits!
*
I find this bitcoin gospel odd --
though many think of cash as God.
*
The love of bitcoin is the root
of making people destitute.
*
At least that is my heathen notion
of such crypto-coin devotion.
*
But people love deep mysteries
and bitcoin has complexities,
with block chains up upon a cloud
to overawe the naive crowd.
*
Digital religion seems
to be the stuff of childish dreams.
*
Temples, chapels, synagogues --
all are going to the dogs;
young folk go to cyberspace
to find wisdom, wealth, and grace.
*
Filthy lucre, once despised,
now is very highly prized,
ballyhooed and sanitized,
keeping people mesmerized.
*
But I am no religious crank;
I'll keep my pittance in the bank.
And when I sit upon a pew
it's peace, not wealth, that I'll accrue.
*
The road to hell is paved, maybe,
with worshiping mere BTC.
"Religious and secular thinkers alike have long discussed what the implications for religion would be if humans discovered intelligent life on other planets. In the United States, highly religious adults are much more skeptical about the possibility of extraterrestrial life compared with those who are less religious, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey."
When an Episcopalian
meets outer space alien
what's the reaction to be?
Perhaps a strict dubiety.
*
A Baptist is likely to lecture
and tell the poor thing it's conjecture.
*
An Anglican parson might shake its green hand
but tell it from services it will be banned.
*
The Methodists a hymn will sing
then tie it up with heavy string.
*
The Pope could welcome it to Rome,
then say it's just a garden gnome.
*
A Lutheran, no doubt, would fear
to bring one home to drink some beer.
*
If Unitarians saw a flying saucer
they'd quote a line from Geoffrey Chaucer.
*
Mennonites would keep concealed
a moon man working in their field.
*
Now Mormons, who have funny ways,
already think that planets blaze
with souls like us -- so they don't care
if Earth's a cosmic thoroughfare.
