Thursday, February 27, 2020

No chips or dip or beer to sip


Buy the market dips?
Take some Corona sips?
The “Orange Crush” will
make everything swell...

Have faith all you losers,
Take heart all you movers.
Our leaders have it all under control,
the CDC is alert, Pence is on a roll.

No matter what you read or hear,
one thing is abundantly clear:

Wash your hands and cover your sneezes;
Take precautions, prevent spread of diseases!







Sunday, February 23, 2020

Collecting Neurons


All these items showing off their time:
Hot Wheels cars, action figures, Lego everything;
Postum general beverages, oil cans, jars of screws.
They seem to say, “Remember this year, that year,
those years when we were young too?”

Cigar boxes, decorative bricks, cowboy hats;
Metal calendars and water pumps all remind us
of some other date, some other time.
That day as a kid when you first used a
hand pump to drink cold water on a sizzling day.
Riding bikes to a town next door and stopping
for a pop or candy at the venerable gas station.

Figurines and steins and tea sets speak of
happy finds and happier times, patina of
colors reflecting memory glimmers in
our contemplative minds. Years blend together, like
that cat wedged in next to the bird, cup and decanter,
all mixing together in our axons and dendrites,
mental casserole signaling nostalgia from the past.

Mannequins and uniforms, toys and VHS tapes
gather stares and dust, next to a large bin of old tools.
Trowels and gas pump nozzles nuzzle our nostalgia.
Lanterns and bottles and binoculars each do their thing
with reflected fluorescent rays, like they used to with the
sun or the moon, back in our more pristine incarnations.

Now some of us accrete at the local flea market,
more mobile versions of what sits on the shelves;
Both pass on memories, images and greetings galore…
One day closer, one day more.





Saturday, February 08, 2020

Consensual or Rape


They emerge out of the shadows of time,
harbingers of disaster for another career.
So sincere in their grief over events long past,
They must reveal it all, in great earnestness.

So out they come, onto the talk shows,
dab eyes with tissues, loose minor admissions,
implicate some imagined evil beast who happens
to be a successful male star or movie producer.

Coincidence?

How many poor nobodies have been dragged out
before an enraged public, forced to admit to
unwanted sexual advances performed decades ago?

None?

Some of these sad, unfortunate victims need to
be charged themselves – with racketeering;
Because it sure seems that is exactly what they are doing.
Shaking down some unfortunate guilty party,
who in many cases thought everything was just fine.
Must be a more honest way to sell an expose.

The truth is indeed an elusive beast...




Monday, February 03, 2020

Happy Caucus-ing Iowans!


The 2020 Iowa Caucus is here! Joe and Amy and Pete and Liz and Bernie are making the last rounds, shaking hands and flashing victory grins.
Their supporters are turning into precinct captains and promoters and assistants. TV stations are inundated with coverage. Kinda exciting to see our humble state in the spotlight – but it happens more often than one might expect. Not only during caucuses and elections, but also during the State Fair, when big names come into town to entertain, or even campaign early. Not sure how much this happens in other states, but Des Moines seems to get a fair amount of news coverage all year long, for one thing or another. Is there any truly isolated mid-sized city in the USA anymore? I doubt it.
And our state as a whole also seems to get outsize attentions. Ames played an important role in the development of atomic energy, not to mention the invention of the first digital computer. The U of Iowa hosted James Van Allen and his space physics department. I could list many more examples of ways in which some region of Iowa played a critical role in our national history. I suppose other states could make a similar claim. It just seems amazing there were so many things that happened or got their start in our middling agricultural state.
So here we are again, in the national, and international, spotlight. Put on your best behavior, Iowans – not the way you act in rush hour every day, or the way you behave in a crowded grocery store or restaurant or bar. Nope, put on that finest suit of behavior and show your Iowa colors and pride to the world!
‘Cause tomorrow they will all move on, and we’ll be stuck with just each other again. LOL. Somehow we’ll get by until the next exciting event. I hear that St. Patrick’s day parade is a real party – a month or so away. Happy Caucusing, everyone. Take care and thanks for reading ;-)





Saturday, February 01, 2020

Two more days


They are all circulating now in our state;
Donald and Pete, Bernie and Amy and Liz.
Or rather, they were, before the impeachment voting.
Now their surrogates circulate all over the place.

Town halls, cafes and coffeehouses.
Rallies at meeting-places of every
size, shape and description.
Eleven contenders still stud the Democratic race,
only two at most can to the White House go.

Television stations and Downtown streets are
clogged with candidates and supporters.
Such excitement to descend on our humble
Iowa landscape – now the center of world attention.
Why, it could give our egos an unnatural boost!

Not to worry, though:
After February 3rd, the spotlight will move to
New Hampshire, and all of us exalted folks
will once again, be “just folks” left to deal with
a lot of cleanup and one hellova Media Hangover.

We’re Iowans – we’re tough – we’ll get over it and move on.






Weaponize

 The military is always on the lookout for new weapons; Various advanced drones and aircraft flit about in our skies, Beamed laser weapons h...