SPA(NK the CARP) in August

I'm happy to have my poem "Cypripedium" in the latest issue of SPANK the CARP.

Not only do I believe revision is the key to good writing, but I enjoy the process.  "Cypripedium" came about as the result of combining poems, a method I frequently use when stuck.  I have a vault of discarded poems in varying degrees of completeness that I dive into if I run dry.  Revisiting these poems or snippets is like bumping into different people I used to know at different times in my life & catching up.  When I combine poems, I play the matchmaker who introduces those with similarities who may, in turn, have a go. Sometimes that's all that comes of it, & there's nothing wrong with that: every poem we write is necessary on our journey.  Of course, one hopes that the upshot of the experiment isn't some unnatural assemblage of parts, but rather that the union results in the successful marriage of ideas & feelings.

If you like the poem, please consider voting for it.  I'm not out to win a competition, but it feels good to know people enjoy my poems.

Many thanks to all!

Georgia O'Keeffe, An Orchid (1941)

To Whom It May Concern

Socialism is the abolition of private property--that is, property requiring a labor force to produce  profit for its private ownership--not whatever bullshit you're saying.

            --Karl Marx, Das Kapital For Ya!

Bunch of Junk about Chrome

Remember when the world sparkled?  How

the gods shone with polish in bygone days,

their glistening munificence shellacking

their golden, self-damned heavens, layers

of enamel glossing over the nimbus

haloing you?  How light afoot you gamboled

through the iridescent drifts

of that kaleidoscopic fall?  How brilliantly

you played the glockenspiel & winked

at the scherzando—& phooey!  How

would you ever take a shine to me? 

The “me” reflected everywhere,

from the Studebaker’s buff chrome bumpers

to the once popular stovepipe hats,

back then fashioned from silver & tin.

Against the glint of history, you stand apart,

your face inside the coin jar ever

beaming, ever radiant to this day,

untarnished by the change waxing over you

in a glimmering, shimmering heap.

                             --Matt Morris

From Nearing Narcoma, selected by Joy Harjo as winner
of the Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award

Mid Spring SPA

I have new poems online:

"Addendum to Wordsworth," a sonnet, appears in the new issue (#23) of Neologism Poetry Journal.

"Commercialism," a villanelle, is in the latest issue (#33) of The Fear of Monkeys.  While there, I hope you'll also read "Bridge to Future Out"  in the previous issue (#32).

Many thanks to all.

Utagawa Hiroshige, Cherry Blossoms, Tama River Embankment

Asshats Applaud Assange's Arrest; MSM Maintain Misinformation Mission

I hope those praising Assange’s arrest—that includes MSNBC, CNN, NYT & WP—are wearing their MAGA hats proudly.  As if to show how few principles they actually have, these erstwhile partisan hacks, the sham of Russiagate still upon their hands, have joined team Trump in the persecution of a journalist whom they view as hostile to their politics.  While they continue to misrepresent the truth, if not outright lie, about Assange’s case--as is their wont on issues of the state--it’s important to remember these are the same sources that got nearly all the facts wrong in the Russiagate debacle.  You'd think audiences would be wary of MSM manipulations by now, but it seems some people don’t want the truth. They’d rather believe in unsubstantiated cloak & dagger plots than accept that their own government is as corrupt & inhumane as any in the world.  For some, it’s more palatable to gobble up the idea that Assange's publication of leaked DNC emails cost Clinton the election--& probably sainthood, too--than to choke down the bitter pill that she's a corrupt warmonger who’s slightly less likable than kidney stones, or worse, Trump.  Sorry, America, but it’s like my great-great-great-uncle Jake used to say, you can’t spell “suck ass”  without USA.  In fact, with the exception of a couple of letters, “suck ass” is wholly a product of USA.  Now there's American exceptionalism for you.

More Examples of Irony

Over the past couple years, Facebook & other social media sites have been censoring--they call it filtering--the news, banning many alternative news sources from their feeds.  The rationale behind this censoring--er, filtering--stems from the notion that the mainstream sources publish reliable, vetted articles, but the non-mainstream sources are purveyors of fake news.  No evidence of such allegations were ever shown, but many of these so-called "fake news" sites, it should be noted, frequently present views that don't coincide with the official Washington report.

During this time, such mainstream sources as the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, & MSNBC have run a bevy of stories, despite the lack of substantive evidence, about alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, while many of the so-called "fake news" sites have expressed much skepticism, given the selfsame lack of evidence for such claims.

Funny thing, the "fake news" sites had the story right, while the mainstream corporate media deliberately reported blatant hokum--the same way it continues to spew ridiculous lies about Venezuela, among others, to trump up US policy.   I'd bet you that some would venture to call that sort of thing propaganda.

Facebook, however, in light of the above revelations, has not removed its filters, but instead has doubled down, asking for further governmental oversight in regards to what they should & shouldn't allow on the site. Why not eliminate news censorship--er, filtering--altogether?  Propagating stories from sources proven to have published false & misleading stories while censoring--er, filtering--those that have proven to have got the story right is not merely illogical, but--given many people get their news via Facebook & other social media feeds--dangerously akin to brainwashing.

Poem for Spring

No Cherry Blossom Viewing This Spring

You won’t view cherry blossoms in the accepted way.

Saying you’re going to look at cherry blossoms

is only an excuse for hatching more plots.

What do you imagine the cherry blossom is?

It’s the pride of Japan, that’s what—the symbol of our Yamato esprit.

I’ll allow your viewing only if you compliantly

enjoy the cherry blossoms and recapture that spirit.

Unless you do, you don’t go.—Nothing doing, you absolutely don’t go.

What are you saying?  I’m tyrannical?

If that’s what you think, then take a look at these flowers.

Aren’t you aware of the glittering cherry blossoms that bloom

on my epaulets, on my patrolman’s cap?

             -Tsuboi Shigeji (trans. Robert Epps)