Monday, December 27, 2021

Best New to Me Films I Saw in 2021

 In nonspecific order: 

The Beast Must Die (1950s Argentinian noir) Drive A Crooked Road (Mickey Rooney as put-upon race car driver) A Double Tour (murder within a wealthy French wine making family) I Walk Alone (teaming of Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Lizabeth Scott) Cast A Dark Shadow (Dirk Bogarde as wife murderer in English village) Guilty Bystander (Zachary Scott as former cop seeking kidnapped son) The Suspect (19th century Hitchcockian thriller with Charles Laughton) Bang! The Bert Berns Story (documentary on the 1960s songwriter/producer/record label head) Cruel Gun Story (1960s Japanese Yakuzanoir starring Jo Shishido)

Most of these were seen on TCM. Bang! The Bert Berns Story available as rental.

Cast A Dark Shadow available on the Tubi app.

The Suspect, The Beast Must Die and I Walk Alone can be purchased on DVD/Blu-ray

Poem from 2017: BEFORE GOING ABROAD

 BEFORE GOING ABROAD 

 

we'll learn enough German

to get us through the basics

of politeness and asking for amenities,

so we don't qualify as ugly Americans

>
because I remember the time
I ordered a cafe latte for you
at a chain bookstore
in the Alberto Sordi Mall in Rome
>
and after two sentences of fractured Italian,
the counterperson took pity on me
and answered in English
>
she smiled as she did this,
and I'm guessing she was pleased
that I made the effort 
to momentarily take leave
of my native tongue

 

 

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Partially Found Poem: DISCHARGE INFORMATION

 Based on information I received last July when I had recovered enough from my stem cell transplant to go to the UCLA-sponsored hotel for further rest: 

DISCHARGE INFORMATION 

 


 

To leave hospital, ANC count of 0.5

 

Must be able to eat, drink, take pills normally 

 

If confusion occurs, call doctor

 

Any new redness, swelling in right arm

 

Around PIC line, call doctor

 

 

Platelets (if minor cuts, I.e. shaving),

 

Hemoglobin (blood passed with bowel movement)

 

Call doctor if above occurs

 

Blood in urine, or when brushing teeth

 

No flossing, no aggressive brushing 

 

Be careful when blowing nose

 

In case blood drips out

 

In case headaches occur,

 

Concern with bleeding of brain—call doctor

 

Avoid Tylenol, Advil, Aleve

 

Prevent infection by hand washing, sanitizer 

 

Use shower glove for right arm until PIC line removed 

 

Continue COVID-19 restrictions—visit outdoors, 

 

If running errands, avoid peak hours

 

No dental work until cleared by doctor 

 

At home with cats:

 

No being licked on face 

 

And no cats in bedroom 

 

Wipe down with antibacterial wipes

 

No vaccinations (six month average) until doctor says

 

Cleaning linens at home—average of once a week

 


Food Permitted:

 

Fresh fruits, vegetables (washed thoroughly)

 

Dried fruits okay with packed bags (small)

 

Take-out restaurants made to order (heated thoroughly)

 

No buffets, salad bars etc.

 

No deli food.

 

Frozen, canned food okay.

 

No prepared salads.

 

No prepackaged salads from Ralphs, etc,

 

Frozen dinner okay, cooked properly.

 

Pasteurized dairy (oat milk permitted)

 

No yogurt,

 

Eggs must be fully cooked

 

No raw food

 

 

No alcohol 

 

Diet Soda permitted—bottles, cans

 

Ensure, Boost supplemental drinks

 

Oatmega bars may be okay, Kind bars too.

 

Exercise:

 

Can walk to and from campus 

 

Or around block

 

Ask for the shuttle number if needed

 


This will pass


I’m glad to remain present

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Best Films/TV of 2021: Second Draft

  In no specific order:

 JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH 

 THE SPARKS BROTHERS

 LAST NIGHT IN SOHO 

 HOLLER

 SUMMER OF SOUL

 NO SUDDEN MOVE

 THE BEATLES: GET BACK

 ANNETTE

 HOUSE OF GUCCI

 THE VELVET UNDERGROUND 

 BENEDETTA 

 MALIGNANT 

 LANDSCAPERS

 Honorable Mention: THE CARD COUNTER/PASSING/THE NIGHT HOUSE/THE LAST DUEL/THE HARDER THEY FALL/CANDYMAN 2021/BELFAST/NIGHTMARE ALLEY 2021/WEST SIDE STORY 2021/SPENCER


Friday, December 3, 2021

Best Films/TV of 2021: First Draft

 In no specific order:

 JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH 

 THE SPARKS BROTHERS

 LAST NIGHT IN SOHO 

 HOLLER

 SUMMER OF SOUL

 NO SUDDEN MOVE

 THE BEATLES: GET BACK

 ANNETTE

 HOUSE OF GUCCI

 THE VELVET UNDERGROUND 

 BELFAST

 MALIGNANT 

 Honorable Mention: THE CARD COUNTER/PASSING/THE NIGHT HOUSE/THE LAST DUEL/THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD/THE HARDER THEY FALL/CANDYMAN 2021


Sunday, November 14, 2021

New Poem: THE TAYLOR SWIFT JAKE GYLLENHAAL RAMBLE

 she made records he made movies and they got together and she was an old soul when it came to business but young enough to still believe in love as something that mattered more than mere material for song lyrics but he was ten years older and steeped in the ways of the world as he saw it and when the breakup came he apparently said something about how the age difference made a difference and therefore he was okay with leaving and it crushed her like a pomegranate then she turned heartbreak into no ordinary end of relationship song but made a film about it and sang for ten minutes on SNL with audible grief of youth still real and ever-present in the thirtyish woman telling fans don’t walk down this particular path if you don’t yet have self awareness and especially don’t give yourself to a man who may regard you as no more than a mere trifle

Friday, November 12, 2021

New Poem: KYLE


 boy of 17 with no impulse control, all fired up

 all too ready to spray 80 seconds of bullets

 now on trial with an adoring judge running the show

>

 consequences, what consequences can there be

 for this killer child who hitched a ride 

 in the flatbed of the virtual extremist pickup truck

 rehearsing his fake ugly cry for mainstream media photos

 >

 jurors, heal some of America’s wounds

 send Young Master Rittenhouse to prison

 don’t let this terrorist win

 

 

Friday, October 22, 2021

New Poem: FOR HALYNA

 there’s no business

 like show business

 when the schedule is short

 when the hours are long

 when you try to say something is wrong

 when they reply if you don’t like it, leave 

 when you feel pressured to see it through

 and hope the next show won’t be like this one

Monday, September 20, 2021

Poem: RECURRING DREAM MOTIFS 2021

lost shoes

lost suitcase

missing wallet

naked in public

taking a speedboat to a marina at night

staying for months in a hotel room

flying to London alone

worrying about being evicted

worrying that something’s missing

worrying that someone’s missing

 

Friday, September 3, 2021

Poetry Video: TEXAS, THEIR TEXAS PARTS ONE AND TWO

 Assembling a portion of an earlier poem with a recently written one about Texas’s horrible anti-abortion legislation.  Aware that the state I grew up in has a very imperfect history, but I never expected this kind of  demagoguery.

https://youtu.be/ZQ3i5G0BEfA

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

New Poem: TEXAS, THEIR TEXAS PART TWO

 busybodies now busy policing women’s bodies

 when they’re not celebrating shooting without a license

 >

 pendulum swing could be foretold in 1982

 when middle of the road Governor Mark White

 had the absolute nerve to enact No Pass, No Play

 intended to make high school athletes get passing grades

 before they could play the Holy Game of Football on Fridays

 there was a rebellion and a stunted notion of freedom even then 

 and Mark White was defeated for re-election 

 >

 the sidewinder snake with an appetite for Lone Star Beer

 and a SECEDE bumper sticker on the back of his pickup

 became hungry to enforce simple values on everyone 

 and, later, simpleton governors like GWB and Rick Perry

 plus Greg Abbott acting the role of fiddle-playing Covid patient 

 had no trouble offering laws and protections for the snake to excrete 

 >

 kids get sick, teachers die, a school closes

 but that doesn’t matter to the angry freedom bludgeoning people

 making it harder to vote, impossible to think for yourself 

 >

 this is what you get when you wrap bloody meat selfishness 

 inside the tamale husk of performative righteousness 

 allegedly in Jesus’ name

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

New Poem; DON AND CHARLIE ARE GONE

 accomplishments before frailty and finality

 music lives forever on different formats

 plus video clips both professional and cell phone jitter

 stories told before are exhumed on social media

 Warren Zevon discusses Don and Phil’s calm on storm tossed plane

 Keith Richards on how Charlie punched out Mick for condescension 

 >

 younger people may have momentary interest

 older folks see time passing too rapidly

 so they turn on radio and TV for official confirmation 

 and communal mourning from musical peers

 >

 all over the world, silent prayers beginning with

 please don’t let anyone else die this week

 

Saturday, August 7, 2021

New Poem: FLORIDA COVID RAMBLE

Ron De Santis letting the virus burn through his state and being blind blind blind to science to schoolchildren and to how Donald Trump—the man De Santis has seen the intestines of more than once—staked his re-election on shoving COVID aside and lost decisively to Joe Biden—Ron learns nothing, thinks he’ll jump over the canyon Trump couldn’t 

Merchant of pestilence speeding towards a truck stop in Sarasota 

Will anyone be there to greet Muster Death?

Monday, August 2, 2021

New REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE episode on McCARTNEY 3 2 1

The summit meeting between Paul McCartney and famed record producer/podcast host Rick Rubin is discussed, with some side detours into upcoming Beatle legacy projects like Peter Jackson’s GET BACK miniseries for Disney+ and Paul’s two-volume collection of song lyrics.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qHMfHTdsGYcwRoU3Tzzfg?si=h3djX0PdRJuNGhttuw1Krg&dl_branch=1

Sunday, July 25, 2021

New Poem: NEVER ENDING PANDEMIC RAMBLE

 the pandemic never ends because of ego and frailty the refusal to correct course when the wind shifts after the Mission Accomplished sign is posted on billboards all over our once great nation and the CDC can’t climb down from its don’t need to wear masks indoors redwood tree and the GOP climbs only a few inches down its covid vaccine is bad because Trump wasn’t re-elected mountain 

Tucker Carlson gets his braying ass handed to him in Montana and all he likely thinks is look at the impact  my irresponsible shit-talking has on the nation that some random guy got in my face and it went viral and the libs still know my name and writhe in pain because Rupert and Lachlan continue to have my back and all I care about is good television and I’m Harry Lime in THE THIRD MAN on top of the Vienna Ferris Wheel with no worries whatsoever about the tiny unvaccinated people way down below who believe they’re self-determination martyrs—and they are dying from the words coming out of my and my network’s mouth

Sunday, July 4, 2021

New REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE: HOLLER/THE DRY/NO SUDDEN MOVE/GUILTY BYSTANDER

 This is the last episode for a few weeks, covering two new VOD releases (HOLLER and THE DRY), Steven Soderbergh’s 1950s noir NO SUDDEN MOVE (now playing on HBOMAX) and an actual 1950s noir—Joseph Lerner’s GUILTY BYSTANDER (now playing on both the Watch TCM app and the website https://www.bynwr.com

https://anchor.fm/terry-mccarty/episodes/HOLLERTHE-DRYNO-SUDDEN-MOVEGUILTY-BYSTANDER-e13tui2

Saturday, July 3, 2021

New REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE: THE TOMORROW WAR and VOYAGERS

 New 4th of July episode discusses THE TOMORROW WAR (the Chris McKay-directed, Chris Pratt-starring futuristic epic now on Amazon Prime) and VOYAGERS (from Neil Burger, director of LIMITLESS and now available for inexpensive rental/streaming).


https://anchor.fm/terry-mccarty/episodes/NEW-SCIENCE-FICTION-THE-TOMORROW-WAR-AND-VOYAGERS-e13sj77

Thursday, July 1, 2021

New Poem: UNREPENTANT OLD BILL

 he comes out

 with Twitter photo

 head bowed, arm raised

 right fist clenched in midair

 trying hard to appropriate 

 Tommie Smith and John Carlos in 1968

 at the Mexico City Olympics 

>

 Tommie and John were fighting 

 for something bigger, more important 

 than the determination to drug and rape

 and have no compassion for the sixty victims 

 plus the money and the iron will

 to insist on getting out of prison early

 on a technicality previously judged not strong enough 

 to stop the trial which sent him to prison

>

 let the gaslight TV interview victory lap begin

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

New REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE: FAST AND FURIOUS 1,4,5.6 and 9 + HOBBS AND SHAW

 I haven’t seen all of the FAST AND FURIOUS movies (though I probably should catch up with TOKYO DRIFT and FURIOUS 7–Paul Walker’s last time playing Brian), but here’s an episode discussing the ones I have seen— with a sidebar into earlier films of Rob Cohen (who directed the original THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS.  Closing moments are about how F9 is the last movie I’ll get to see in a theater before my upcoming stem cell/bone marrow transplant.

https://anchor.fm/terry-mccarty/episodes/THE-FAST-AND-THE-FURIOUS-1-4-5-6--9-PLUS-HOBBS-AND-SHAW-e13mf8d

Monday, June 28, 2021

New REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE: Quentin Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD—movie, book, virtual theme park?

 This stream-of-consciousness bonus episode looks at Quentin Tarantino’s (perhaps) next-to-last film, which (at least in Los Angeles) has repeat viewers (one person has seen it eight times so far) and other QT fans awaiting the expanded mass market paperback novel coming soon to a bookstore, newsstand and/or supermarket.  

So here’s 20 minutes of words about Tarantino’s equivalent to James Cameron’s TITANIC—plus a brief argument for DEATH PROOF as QT’s woke, anti-misogyny film.

Anchor: https://anchor.fm/terry-mccarty/episodes/BONUS-EPISODE-SOME-MILD-HERESY-REGARDING-QUENTIN-TARANTINO-AND-ONCE-UPON-A-TIME-IN-HOLLYWOOD-e13ijbr

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2UMdzUiJJvZoIuOs3V6SpF?si=a1tMJeoEQZSh1FaKzdCoEg&dl_branch=


Monday, June 21, 2021

New REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE: THE SPARKS BROTHERS + ASSORTED MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES

First 15 minutes of this episode on Edgar Wright’s new documentary film about Ron and Russell Mael and their band you may have heard of and listened to.  Then, a survey of rock documentaries which discuss bands who have mostly maintained lengthy careers regardless of the level of mainstream interest.

 https://anchor.fm/terry-mccarty/episodes/THE-SPARKS-BROTHERSTHE-SUBGENRE-OF-MUSIC-DOCUMENTARIES-ABOUT-CAREER-LONGEVITY-ANDOR-REDISCOVERY-e135g13

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

New REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE: 1970s WESTERNS: CLINT EASTWOOD/GENRE DECONSTRUCTION

 The latest episode continues my occasional examination of 70s Westerns (essentially the last hurrah for the genre before it became mostly niche product seen in 80s art houses).  First 12 minutes on Clint Eastwood, with a shoutout to Burbank’s LexG and his comprehensive podcast episode on Clint’s career from Sergio Leone’s Man With No Name trilogy to 1990’s THE ROOKIE, which could be regarded (in spirit) as a better farewell to Dirty Harry Callahan than Clint and Buddy Van Horn’s THE DEAD POOL.

Remainder of the episode defines deconstruction of the Western as a conscious veering away from traditional storytelling by way of scripting, aesthetic choices, directorial/actor decisions.  Films discussed include McCABE AND MRS. MILLER, BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS, BAD COMPANY (1972), THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN, ZANDY’S BRIDE, THE MISSOURI BREAKS and PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID (with mentions of Sam Peckinpah’s later BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA and CONVOY).

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7pC8HI5tw0s6nlHVC4n88N?si=RZ6tnfK6RoifNrYiRp71NA&dl_branch=1


Sunday, June 13, 2021

New REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE: RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON/IN THE HEIGHTS

 Discussion of two movies available in theaters and on streaming services.  Also discussed: differing reactions to Disney+ charging roughly $30 for a movie for its first three months vs HBOMAX making WB releases available for no extra charge (but for just a month) plus inquiring as to why studios consider their streaming income and number of viewers per movie  to be none of the public or press’s business.

https://anchor.fm/terry-mccarty/episodes/SEE-IT-IN-A-THEATER-OR-AT-HOME-RAYA-AND-THE-LAST-DRAGONIN-THE-HEIGHTS-e12ncfn

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

New REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE: 1970s WESTERNS: THE TWILIGHT OF JOHN WAYNE

 I’ll be doing some non consecutive episodes on the decline of the Hollywood Western in the 1970s.  And, as with genre films in decline, there are some interesting to good ones (largely ignored by audiences) released during this period.

This episode discusses John Wayne’s trajectory from the Oscar-winning peak of TRUE GRIT into the valley of clinging to an outdated image/stubbornly staying at one with his core, tradition-bound audience (one exception being Mark Rydell’s THE COWBOYS, which shocked some 1971-72 viewers with Wayne dying from multiple gunshot wounds by primary villain Bruce Dern).

Also, the 1971 PLAYBOY interview (where Wayne let loose with racist views of Native Americans and racist/patronizing commentary on Black people) is discussed—along with my guess as to why the pushback (and yes, there was criticism at the time) did little damage to Wayne’s career.

Finally, after 1976’s THE SHOOTIST, Wayne said goodbye to the Western genre—as a commercial pitchperson for headache medicine Datril and Great Western Bank.

https://anchor.fm/terry-mccarty/episodes/1970s-WESTERNS-THE-TWILIGHT-OF-JOHN-WAYNE-e12enrl

Monday, May 31, 2021

New free poetry chapbook AMERICA 2021: CHANGE WITHOUT CHANGING

 Here’s a roundup of some recent poems (with occasional revisions) that have appeared on my blog:

 https://www.scribd.com/document/510102209/America-2021-Change-Without-Changing

Clint Eastwood at 91

I was too young for the original run of RAWHIDE, but I can remember the impact of Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name in the Sergio Leone trilogy released 1967-68 in America.  Eastwood, dispensing with niceties and amused/bemused by the transparent scheming of others, was a transgressive figure in an era where John Wayne’s unyielding patriarchy was still a predominant influence on mainstream Westerns.  In those days, black and white stills of Eastwood wearing his trademark poncho were turned into posters bought by antiestablishment youth.

And we know the rest of the story: Eastwood became a director in the early 70s, began courting film critic Respect with 1976’s THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES—and, as filmmaker, has a canon that mixes thoughtful classics (BIRD, WHITE HUNTER BLACK HEART, UNFORGIVEN, MYSTIC RIVER, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, the underrated CHANGELING, FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS) with simple reactionary shoutouts to his aging, first generation audience who want their political/social conservatism validated (HEARTBREAK RIDGE, GRAN TORINO, THE MULE, RICHARD JEWELL).  One hopes Clint’s latest in a subgenre of valedictory films, CRY MACHO, will be a try-following-this mic drop to an almost seven-decade career.  [UPDATE 9/20/2021: It isn’t.  Less reactionary, but also paced like drinking a glass of warm milk before bedtime.]

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Bonus episode of REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE podcast: 10 GUILTY PLEASURES

Discussion of films released between 1961 and 1982—including Roger Corman underwater and in outer space, Willian Shatner’s Italian Western, 50s pop star Fabian as 30s gangster Pretty Boy Floyd, the 1978 remake of THE BIG SLEEP and Bette Davis as a bank robber in hippie disguise  https://anchor.fm/terry-mccarty/episodes/Bonus-Episode-TEN-GUILTY-PLEASURES-e11puoe

Friday, May 28, 2021

Link to my new film/television reviews podcast.

 This is a project in its infancy, but should become stronger and more vibrant in the weeks to come.

 I now have a podcast with the title REVIEWS AND OTHERWISE, focusing on film/TV present and, sometimes, past.  Here’s a link to the premiere episode: https://anchor.fm/terry-mccarty/episodes/Reviews-And-Otherwise-Episode-1-e11oab6

Enjoy and subscribe if you wish to hear more.

Saturday, May 22, 2021

New Poem: TEXAS, THEIR TEXAS

 Keep Texan children from thinking

 For themselves to make it easy for

 Parents to not explain sins of the past

 Or teachers too, for that matter

 >

 Deny non affluent women the right of choice

 Restage The Handmaid’s Tale as modern-day Western

 >

 Unemployment checks to feed families during pandemic?

 Utter waste of money and time

 Make them Beat The Clock to avoid starvation 

 >

 Unthinking children grow to subservient adulthood 

 The eyes of a chosen few Texans are upon them

 Making sure they stay peasants

 Waving the state flag

 Hating taxes 

 And whoever else they’re told to hate

 

Saturday, May 15, 2021

New Poem: MTG vs AOC

 it’s the children’s magazine comic Goofus and Gallant come to life

 Goofus is now named Marjorie who peeps through mail slots

 refuses to do hard work with others on actual legislation 

 much easier to torment Alexandria (Gallant) for QAnon pleasure

 Congress is now the new stage for extremist performance art

 >

 the center-Left, saying “see Marjorie’s latest video outrage”

 becomes unwitting spreaders of ideological disease

 all over social media at Alexandria’s (and public) expense

 >

 America, this is the divided House you chose to build

 

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

New Poem: THE OTHER PLACE RAMBLE

It was a two story house close to the railroad tracks and just across from the train station mostly closed since passenger trains stopped coming through in 1967 the house had a brief alternate life as the small town’s teen center The Other Place for about eight months between 1973 and 1974 and it was quintessential small town 70s with jukebox playing China Grove, Smokin’ In The Boys’ Room and Basketball Jones downstairs with occasional dancing (one time I danced alone because I was too shy to approach girls)  and Wednesday night Bible study upstairs where one time things were running late so we watched some of the ABC-TV edit of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE to kill time and just down the upstairs hall was a pool table where I would watch the people who knew how to play pool really really well and as I said earlier it returned to being a two-story family dwelling sometime in 1974 and from that point onwards I took young people’s theater classes on Saturdays in the city half-an-hour’s drive away which was good until my parents didn’t want me to play Billy Bibbit in a production of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST scheduled for the summer of 1975 at the theater and I didn’t stand up for myself and rock the boat—instead, all the acting I was allowed to do was One-Act Play competition in the small town (which led to competition in other towns and cities) and the Junior Class Play and that kept me busy for as long as these enterprises lasted

I wish The Other Place could have stayed open at least until my graduation in 1977 so I might have had somewhere to go to practice social skills and, if that had happened, it could have made a certain difference in how the remainder of the 70s and early 80s played out for me

Monday, May 3, 2021

Chris Cuomo explains to Don Lemon why Rick Santorum isn’t likely to leave CNN

By now, readers of this post are aware of a certain racist remark at the expense of Native Americans made by televised-by-CNN house conservative panelist Rick Santorum.

Santorum was a guest on Chris Cuomo’s Monday night show.

Don Lemon wasn’t having it.  Below is a link to the Cuomo-to-Lemon show transition:

https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1389402315359199233?s=21

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

New Poem: COUNTING

 lots of counting going on

 number of white blood cells

 number of red blood cells

 days until second bone marrow biopsy 

 weeks until stem cell harvest

 week or so after that for stem cell replant 

 hospital stay followed by weeks in hotel 

 then a count of platelets determining recovery

 >

 hoping everything works out

 so I can return home

 and count the weeks until

 a version of normal arrives

Monday, April 19, 2021

New Poem: RETRAIN THE POLICE

 leave the robot dogs in the equipment yard

 strip off the military gear if you’re not SWAT

 melt the tanks into scrap metal for infrastructure 

 treat Black and Brown people just like White people 

 learn to count to twenty before drawing taser or pistol

 and stop treating your poisonous apples as if they should get

 a Medal of Valor for wearing a uniform they don’t deserve

Sunday, April 4, 2021

New Poem: RED TO ORANGE AND BACK TO RED

 it’s springtime 

 it’s the annual celebration of Resurrection 

 it’s the local supermarket telling customers:

 sanitize your carts your own damn self

 it’s all the beach towns eager for spring break $

 get as many college kids on the piers as possible 

 before the media optics look too bad

 and we have to limit access and hand out masks

 >

 on the West Coast,

 we read about infection spread in the Midwest

 but we—again—want normal before we’re ready

 begging for a few more gallops before the storm clouds gather

  

Friday, April 2, 2021

New Poem: POEM OF CLUBS PART TWO

 yes, it’s true:

 one time I was in a coffeehouse 

 where a distinguished regional poet

 read a poem mocking young people

 who turned their foreign cars into Art on wheels

 >

 he used the term “rice burner”

 and the poem’s intro ended with the punchline 

“It’s just a fucking Honda”

 >

 what did I do, you may wonder

 I kept my mouth shut afterwards 

 because the distinguished poet

 once included me in an anthology he edited

>

 and I felt I still owed him something 

>

 and I’m ashamed of my cowardice, my complicity 

 wanting too too much to belong


Monday, March 22, 2021

New Poem: SPOILED MAN

 first thought only thought

 reach out and touch without asking

 first thought only thought

 assume the female world bends to your un-asked-for touch

 first thought only thought

 yell “not going down for this” to agent/manager

 first thought only thought 

 >

 maybe it’s time for second thoughts

Thursday, March 18, 2021

New Poem: IN CHEROKEE COUNTY

 In Cherokee County,

 Asian women are murdered

 By a goateed White man

 Trying to explain away his crime

 As sex addiction to be purged by slaughter 

 >

  The Captain at the press conference 

  Tries to explain away the murderer’s crime

  As a very bad day

  >

  Of course, the Captain doesn’t resign

  Instead, the Sheriff’s department issues

 A press release about how yesterday was a

 Very bad day indeed for the Captain

 And please regret the heartache his words caused

 >

 Please regret the loss of eight lives, Sheriff,

 By showing your Captain the door 

Saturday, March 13, 2021

New Poem: WE NEED BORING

 hear the conservatives cry

 see them make twisted sad faces

 world heals as they retreat

 into playing familiar culture war games

 moans of they’re taking this away

 >

 thank the good Lord for boredom 

 all hail smooth running competence

 praise the desire to fix what’s broken

 we need boring in our great land

 government letting us breathe again

 

 

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

New Poem: RIFFING ON FERLINGHETTI

 did the fun thing

 made the love thing

 tried to get the hang of the work thing

 spent the last year on the lockdown thing

 then the smiling mortician appeared

 telling me I had a disease 

 this disease could be held at bay

 for a few years perhaps 

 before the house wins

 and my affairs demand ordering

 >

 how best to make the most of what remains,

 I think to myself 

as the smiling mortician drives away


Tuesday, March 2, 2021

THE REOPEN THE ECONOMY COVID CIRCLE GAME

 Inspired by the Joni Mitchell song:

 Today the governors and the mayors sing open up fast

 Masks peel off in Texas, indoor restaurant service in NY and CA

 No longer fearful of potential spread and variants

 Looking the other way from falling stars

 >

 And the coronavirus still goes round and round

 No way to keep it curbed will be found

 When White Republicans won’t bare their arms

 And we enter a second year with potential for great harm


 

 

 

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Mitch McConnell announces the death of bipartisanship in the Biden era

 Manu Raju of CNN: “...McConnell has privately informed associates that he plans to target President Joe Biden's agenda, with a push to unify Republicans on the grounds that it amounts to liberal overreach, another sign that he sees Trump as in the rearview mirror.”


Democrats should no longer be touting bipartisanship if Republicans intend to repeat the obstruction of the Obama years.

Sunday, February 7, 2021

New Poem: What poets think about when they praise Amanda Gorman

 she’s There

 maybe one day I can be There too

 with book deals that drop after the Event

 >

 she’s ready to write to order

 tailoring poems to the Event as advised

 >

 the modeling deal doesn’t bother me

 we should have written word rock stars too

 >

 every so often a poet who doesn’t get it writes

Amanda Gorman omitting Colin Kaepernick 

because her brand matters more than truth.  

Friday, February 5, 2021

New Poem: SEDITION PILLOW

 big expressive man with bigger mustache 

 appears on conservative fringe TV

 with paid program preceded by 90-second disclaimer 

 big Mike belts out his aria spiel:

 buy My Sedition Pillow

 after a night’s sleep

 you’ll believe the 2020 election never happened 

 that the government has to be rolled back

 and you’ll bellow about me being cancelled 

 as I add your name to my political donor list

 may you sleep many nights on My Sedition Pillow

 never waking up to be aware of who I really am


Monday, February 1, 2021

New Poem: PARKING LOT HEROES

 out in front of the Dairy Queen 

 at the intersection of Highways 25 and 287

 youthful male giants once stood as colossi

 astride the welcoming landscape of small town 70s

 naked streaking all the way to White’s Auto

 fights where karate was defeated by groin kick

 Kiss and Led Zeppelin (sometimes Herbie Hancock)

 provided background music from 8-track car stereos 

 >

 their world couldn’t hold back change

 some graduated, others did not

 one or two left town ahead of baby births 

 the Dairy Queen died so Texas One Stop could live

 White’s Auto is now a Dollar General

 the colossi are now grandparents 

 the youth of today drive their giant trucks

 get their provisions from One Stop

 and drive away fast with trucker hat country 

 as CD and FM stereo background music of choice 

 blasts away their anxieties over nothing being certain anymore 


Wednesday, January 20, 2021

New Poem: CLEANUP ON AISLE USA

 sweep away broken glass

 wipe the inhuman stain off cracked walls

 restock the long-empty shelves

 renew customer service 

 hire new, well-vetted employees

 reopen 24/7/365 for all, not just the few

 

 

Saturday, January 9, 2021

New Poem: CAPITOL HILL RAMBLE

 after the deaths and desecration the Democrats and the Republicans are set to agree in their own ways to move on and put the demon back in the bottle so people will get back to consuming, waiting for the vaccine and increasing stock prices after a few days to allow public venting and promises of a post- Presidency Senate trial plus saying pretty pretty please to the malign immovable object still hunkering down in the Oval Office making his pardon list and checking it twice while periodically looking at TV to see if anyone’s still weeping over his being silenced by social media meanwhile agitators whose names we all know refuse to resign on principle (President-elect says vote them out next election) just like the President whose poisonous water they still carry through the moral desert they choose to live in—and please remember 70 million people, some of them wanting nothing more than tax cuts, judges, persecution of immigrants and environmental deregulation, these 70 million who voted for Donald Trump and Michael Pence have to own their role in the deaths (including a Capitol Policeman) that resulted from The Donald trying to stay in office at his pleasure, almost marching democracy to the gallows erected outside