Poem NO FOOL LIKE THE DONALD--updated version.

SPY magazine

once called him "the short-fingered vulgarian"

it was the 80s

and most of us weren't ready to heed the warning:

it was easier to buy copies of

TRUMP: THE ART OF THE DEAL

and read gossip about his relentless pursuits

of women, real estate and casinos

the GOP went dither dither:

he won’t stay around that long

but Trump trumped his opponents

and he was truly ratings catnip to cable news

with not enough people getting truly upset

at the rage, racism and violence at rallies

he’s the all-but-certain nominee

with the violent ex-basketball coach

praising him for “having the guts”

to drop the nuclear bomb

so now the fate of our nation

rests on how many people are either

angry enough to vote for a billionaire

who cares next to nothing about them

or nihilistic enough

to put a blustery reality-show tyrant

into the highest office in the land

for the demented fun of it

New poem: ODE TO THE SYLMAR BEAR

at least two local TV news crews

harsh light of LAPD helicopter

fish and game employees on the ground

a tree comes into view

easy to climb

but no branches

and not enough room to sit

on top of the dozen or so palm fronds

so it’s time to reverse course

find a front yard to be cornered in

and prepare for the sting of the darts

plus premature hibernation

before waking in familiar surroundings

glad to be free

from those who couldn’t relate

New poem: LIMITED EDITION.

the man who loved purple

ascended to heaven

in the elevator

leaving behind physical pain

also a legacy of

pushing musical boundaries

saying whatever he wanted

stating what was necessary

giving to those in need

taking his name away from the Company

until they realized

the music he allowed them to distribute

was his music

and not theirs in perpetuity

as the familiar saying goes,

“we are fortunate

to have lived in his time”

A Prince playlist.

At this writing, Tidal is the only streaming service carrying Prince's albums in the wake of his passing.

1. Let's Go Crazy
2. Raspberry Beret
3. Manic Monday--Bangles
4. Seven
5. Alphabet St
6. Little Red Corvette
7. 1999
8. I Would Die 4 U
9. Purple Rain
10. I Wanna Be Your Lover
11. Kiss
12. Mountains
13. U Got The Look
14. Sign 'O' The Times
15. Thieves In The Temple
16. Diamonds And Pearls
17. Cream
18. Betcha By Golly Wow (cover)
19. Whole Lotta Love (cover, live)
20. Funknroll
21. Baltimore

Allegedly pragmatic racism as practiced by Hollywood.

Re Scarlett Johanssen being cast in the GHOST IN THE SHELL live-action film:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/asian-american-actresses-speak-out-against-scarlett-johanssons-ghost-in-the-shell-casting_us_5717a698e4b0018f9cbbd121

Ridley Scott defending casting Caucasian actors to play Egyptians in EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS:  http://www.hitfix.com/the-dartboard/ridley-scott-im-still-not-sorry-i-cast-white-movie-stars-in-exodus#XIH88Byq3Fp0L4xw.03

New poem: WORKING ON WILD BILL

Wild Bill e un Western terminale--from WALTER HILL by Simone Emillani and Mauro Gervasini

it was a pleasure to do next to nothing

first, curling into a fetal position

and then lay on a bed with a blank stare

all of this meant to simulate opium addiction

while Jeff Bridges as Wild Bill Hickok

carrying the foreground part of the scene

as a pretend cowboy with real facial growth,

I had a couple of good days

at what used to be the

Samuel Goldwyn studio

where, at lunch,

I was less than a foot away

from part of the history of Hollywood:

producer Richard Zanuck

sat at the same lunch table

not too proud to eat with

mere 65-dollar-a-day extras

Cheap Trick mini-playlist 1982-1988.

1. If You Want My Love
2. One On One
3. I Can't Take It
4. Tonight It's You
5. Let Go
6. The Flame
7. Don't Be Cruel

New poem: LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

saw it in the parking lot

behind the Italian restaurant

on 3rd Street off Fairfax

with temporary friends

at the wrap party

of a now-obscure movie

and it was the last moment

of belonging

before unemployment beckoned

and I returned to

a daily schedule of longing

to be part of Something

once more

Former actor Jake Lloyd: The infinity loop of being bullied, acting out and being bullied again.

From a year ago, when Jake Lloyd (forever known as child Anakin Skywalker from STAR WARS I: THE PHANTOM MENACE) was arrested for reckless driving.

https://aflickeringlife.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/on-jake-lloyd-and-the-scars-of-bullying/

A particularly resonant passage:

I understand the scars bullying leaves on victims. Bullying destroys your self esteem. It shatters your ability to trust others. Everybody is suspicious in your eyes after years of the treatment. Anxiety disorders are common after the fact. Depression is a lock. Self destruction? It almost inevitably follows for many. Sadly literal self destruction is common.

Here's an update to Jake Lloyd's story:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/star-wars-actor-jake-lloyd-moved-psychiatric-facility-article-1.2595377

On Twitter, "lazypadawan" wrote the following:
Jake Lloyd deserves the same compassion and deference accorded to Carrie Fisher. Lloyd had even less resources/support.

Another Twitter post, unfortunately, opted for more mockery. Here's Tyler Parrish being a public ass:

Jake Lloyd from Phantom Menace has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I'm assuming the voices he hears belong to movie critics. #StarWars

Cheap Trick 1977-1980 playlist

1. Elo Kiddies
2. Downed
3. Clock Strikes Ten
4. Big Eyes
5. Southern Girls
6. Surrender
7. Stiff Competition
8. California Man
9. Heaven Tonight
10. Hello There (Budokan)
11. I Want You To Want Me (Budokan)
12. Ain't That A Shame (Budokan)
13. Dream Police
14. Voices
15. Gonna Raise Hell
16. The House Is Rockin' (With Domestic Problems)
17. Way Of The World
18. Stop This Game
19. Everything Works If You Let It
20. World's Greatest Lover

THE NEW YORKER's Calvin Trillin Chinese food poem upstages National Poetry Month.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/06/calvin-trillin-new-yorker-chinese-food-poem?CMP=edit_2221

Calvin Trillin's poem (both text and read by Trillin himself:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/04/have-they-run-out-of-provinces-yet-by-calvin-trillin

Trillin's NEW YORKER biography:
http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/calvin-trillin

My opinion:
Trillin probably intended "Have They Run Out of Provinces Yet?" as light verse poking mild fun at foodies wanting to eat the latest "in" cuisine.  (Guessing David Remnick, who runs THE NEW YORKER, may have had the last word over poetry editor Paul Muldoon on the poem's appearance online/in print.)

Trillin's poem might have been less controversial in 1969 or 1970--when unchecked cultural insensitivity to non-Caucasians and non-heterosexuals was the norm (though, in a rare exception, Latinos successfully managed to have Frito-Lay's stereotyped animated Frito Bandito commercials pulled from television).

In the digital age, reflexive anger and pushback is immediate.

And the sad byproduct is an even greater ignorance of National Poetry Month (though not in Los Angeles, where a lot of poets are still in the afterglow of the AWP convention held last week) in favor of talking about an elderly, long-term NEW YORKER contributor who doesn't know what year/century he now lives in.

More Trump anxiety from conservatives.

Article from US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT:
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2016-04-07/ap-gfk-poll-americans-overwhelmingly-view-trump-negatively

George Will column:
https://shar.es/1j37yZ

The Merle Haggard playlist.

1. Okie From Muskogee
2. Misery and Gin
3. Sing Me Back Home
4. Mama Tried
5. Pancho and Lefty (with Willie Nelson)
6. Big City
7. The Bottle Left Me Down
8. Yesterday's Wine (with George Jones)
9.  If We Make It Through December
10. Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (with Willie Nelson)