New Poem: TRUMP OFFERS $5,000 FOR YOUR SOUL

 the proposal he thinks is so grand

 he mentions it two nights in a row 

 on night two, he gets out brass tacks:

 support me or go straight to Hell

 Hell may now be filled with Democrats

 and a lot more Republicans than expected 

From Alex Gibney VANITY FAIR interview re his Elon Musk documentary

 “If Musk makes it to Mars and begins his colony, is the damage that he’s caused on Earth all worth it?

No. He is exploding the planet. Putting Donald Trump in the presidency is exploding the planet. He’s put a completely reckless sociopath in charge of the most powerful country on earth. Yeah. And he’s intentionally destroying the planet for financial profit. And this whole idea of making us a multi-planetary civilization is fine. I was watching Apollo 11 on the plane on the way here. It was such an interesting watch because it was such a sort of innocent time compared to now, even though the president, of course, was Nixon. But even Nixon, as corrupt as he was, had this larger sense of national and human possibilities.

So no, I don’t think it’s worth it, but also it’s phony. It’s funny. It’s bullshit. There’s no way he’s going to Mars. It’s just bullshit.”

Excerpt From

“Elon Musk, Elizabeth Holmes, and Donald Trump Are All Alike, Says 'Musk' Filmmaker Alex Gibney”

Chris Murphy

Vanity Fair

https://apple.news/AY24hyNGkSKCzdh99xMUCJg

This material may be protected by copyright.

New Poem: HOW IT BEGAN

 there was this movie I worked on

 I was in terror, had resulting competency issues,

 received various variants of verbal abuse

 and I hung on until the official wrap

 plus the two days of additional shooting 

 told myself I wouldn’t allow myself to

 be helpless in the face of wrath ever again 

 so I engaged in decompression therapy 

 by writing an outline for a roman a clef novel

 about a fake blockbuster titled ALIENS OVER HOLLYWOOD 

 the venting process was entertaining 

 and took place over a few off-work days 

 at the Fairfax Farmers Market 

 where I would write on a legal pad

 and consume a small bag of raisins 

 and discover I was no Hemingway

 so, at the end of one creative session,

 I wrote a short mock-epic poem on jaywalking 

 it wasn’t good, but it made me consider 

 learning the craft of compact stylistic creation

 my early poems were monologues 

 and then I learned to be concise

 using both narrative and metaphor 

 and I kept writing despite 

 algorithms, changing tastes, 

 refusing to be on the “good side”

 of certain disagreeable crème de la crème 

a few poems of mine were anthologized

maybe someone will read them after I’m gone 

New Poem: YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN

 you can go home again

 if you tell yourself it’s only temporary 

 see the closed stores and near-empty mall

 drive by the century-old high school 

 be surprised by the changes in old friends

 mourn the friends who decided to leave life entirely 

 buy a Pepsi Zero where the Dairy Queen once stood

 say hello to your family inhabiting the local cemetery 

 refuse to go near the house you grew up in 

 especially refuse to compare your aspirations to your actual life

 

 take your rental car back to the airport 

 all the while noticing big Texas skies

 plus the pastureland where camels once roamed 

New Poem: I CONFESS (52 YEARS LATE)

 wherever you are now

 please accept this belated apology 

 for sending a very 70s greeting card

 with a couple walking along a sunny beach

 containing this inscription:

 someday

 some way

 somehow

 I wasn’t a good listener at 15

 didn’t read unspoken social cues

 until the age of 21

 wherever you are now

 please forgive me

 for being presumptuous 

 and making unintended changes 

 in your later views of me

 

New Poem: Graham Platner Sings Behind Blue Eyes

 I blame you media

 I blame you Establishment Democrats

 My fist clenched I won’t crack it open

 Bernie withdrew his support, I look like a fool

 It’s not rape if you say pull out of me

 It’s not rape if I peel off my condom

 It’s not rape if I plow on and you have no birth control

 It’s not violence if I push you in a room and keep it shut

 My presenting as progressive dream is over

 And I won’t blame myself 

New Poem: SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL BLUES

 Should I buy, buy, buy

 Semiquincentennial crypto, crypto, crypto, crypto, 

 as in coins, no relation to Supergirl's doggie 

 Should I stand, stand, stand, stand, 

 stand in the streets of Manhattan?

Waiting outside, outside, outside, outside. 

Madison Square Garden, 

as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce

hijack the upcoming Fourth of July. 

and make it all about a super duper, extra special 

wedding celebration of themselves, their individual brands 

and soon to be their married couples super brand

Should I, should I, should I, should I, watch

video of Donald Trump talking about Teddy Roosevelt,

and a bunch of men dressed up as Rough Riders

Just like the people dressed up in bib overalls

watching hillbilly fascist Andy Griffith

playing Lonesome Rhodes in A FACE IN THE CROWD

Should I, should I, should I, should I watch video 

of the empty great American state fairgrounds? 

And watch that with Donald Trump asking fake RoughRiders

Do you have a 401 K?

playing in the background of my mind

Should I do that? Must I do that? 

I'd rather just look outside at the fireworks display 

and remember the great experiment of democracy 

with all its virtues and failings 

especially the failings of stolen land genocide and racism

And then remember the gains civil rights, women’s rights 

and people that came to America 

to achieve better futures for themselves and others,

and have done the very, very best 

to make America, something more beautiful and united

than the Trump and Stephen Miller acts of terror and destruction 

I just hope, against hope, that the experiment called America

will survive and improve in time for the tricentennial,

 a long ways away,

 2076.

DONALD TRUMP’S GREATEST AMERICAN STATE FAIR HITS

1. Algae Stay Away From My Reflecting Pool

2. Iran War So Far Away From Me 

3. No Asylum For You

4. It’s My Party (Lesley Gore cover)

5. I Feel Fine (Beatles cover)

6. I Vote By Mail But You Can’t 

7. What I Think About Bill Cassidy (Explicit Content Advisory)

8. America Do Exactly As I Say