From: Ernesto Screpanti (screpanti@UNISI.IT)
Date: Thu Jun 08 2006 - 04:02:33 EDT
I have just published a book of poems: Andrea T. Dalfrano, Divina farsa, MEF, Florence 2006, 10 Euro There is irony, self-irony, deconstruction, love, communism and revolution, and much more. It is written in Italian. Dalfrano is a nom de plume of Ernesto Screpanti. You can buy the book at http://www.firenzelibri.com/ or http://www.firenzelibri.com/librerie.html#librerie%20internet In solidarity Ernesto At 19.37 07/06/2006 -0400, you wrote: >Does anyone on the list, in addition to Cyrus, write poetry? >In solidarity, Jerry > ><http://counterpunch.org/poems06032006.html> > > Weekend Edition > June 3 / 4, 2006 > > > > The Caged Bird and the Attorney General > By CYRUS BINA > > > A half-digested ration in the belly, > A half-broken body on the bone, > A half-beaten word on the beak- > The caged-bird is a mere half, > The birdcage is the other half. > We need to ask Mr. Darwin: > Is this mutation? > Is this mutation? > > A crowd of excited primates in the wild act: "We Support Our Troops!" > A row of bumper stickers in a plush neighborhood react: "We Support >Our Troops!" > Oops!! > Hello, Mr. Darwin! > Is this evolution? > Is this evolution? > > * * * > > The cage is the melody, > The bird is the echo, > Now, music is our foe! > > The cage is the verse, > The bird is the voice, > Now, poetry is our foe! > > The cage is the face, > The bird is the mirror, > Now, beauty is our foe! > > We lashed the Earth, > We thrashed the Heaven: - (we put mouth in God's words), > We faked the freaking facts-big time. > Now, God is our foe! > > Do we need a Mr. Einstein or a Mr. Gödel > To measure the void and disgrace? > > We feed the cage, > The cage feeds the bird-365-24-7 > In Abu Ghraib or Camp X-ray or who knows where; > And liberty is made the battered wife of cowardice at home > Where the heart is wiretapped, the mind is wiretapped - > dignity is wiretapped: > - (They search the heart to seize the love; > They ban the thought to bar the mind; > They hack the soul to halt the body!) - > > They kill the goose that lay the golden egg! > > Do we need a Mr. Homer or a Mr. Shakespeare > To recount the tragedy? > > * * * > > A half-rationed meal in the belly, > A half-shaken pride in the bone, > A half-naked pledge on the beak, > And enough rage packed in the chest for the Day of Judgment. > > - (Here the bird wilts without the sky, > There the sky withers without the bird.) - > > The bird has no currency, no credit, no clue, no conviction; > The bird doesn't read the lies or the truths or the trivia in > the New York Times; > The bird has no pretense, no defense, no constitutional protection. > > * * * > > "ALL RISE!!"-A commanding voice orders through the loudspeaker: > And ALL is the bird-sad, silent, and solitary! > - Standing before the judge and the Attorney General > In an off-the-sight, off-the-mind, off-the-shelf rendition of > justice. > > "Is the bird oblivious as to the cause of her confinement?" > -The judge asks nervously; > "Your Honor:-we certainly hope so;" > "Your Honor:-we think this alone should be enough for indictment," > Replies jolly-good, smelling-blood Herr von Attorney General! > > The case was closed, > The cage was grabbed, Abu-Ghraib-ed, and bulldozed, > The bird was nabbed from memory, > The sky is vanished six feet under, > The birds didn't surrender! > The birds didn't surrender! > > > > Cyrus Bina is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics and >Management at the University of Minnesota at Morris. Email: > binac@morris.umn.edu
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