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SHOCK & AWE, BEFORE:

We know he has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons. Dick Cheney, Meet the Press 3/16/2003¨

AFTER:

You may be reading too much. I don't know… Read full post »

May 14 '09. In a stunning setback for Haiku Thursdays, the Supreme Court overturned Ryusui v. Young Man from Nantucket, which had successfully challenged the so-called Sanctity of Rhymes Act. Writing for the majority, Justice Thomas said, "Poetry is five-line rhyming verse. What else you go… Read full post »

Recently, I attended a mixed gathering of naturists and clothesies. It was a new experience for me, and not researchable in any of the better known books of etiquette.

At such affairs, I will always be one of the clothed persons; there are too few occasions for dresses anymore, with real… Read full post »

Vice President Cheney spent many a pleasant evening at the undisclosed location being transfused with a concoction of blackmarket stem cells chased with excellent bourbon.

The windowless apartment - its whereabouts so secret that even Wolfie and Chalabi always arrived under escort and blindfolded -… Read full post »

My first friends in this southern town are students at a college of art and design. We meet at the dog park in the early evening, complain about the cloying heat and share snippets of our lives. We are all from someplace else: Nebraska, New Hampshire, Chicago, Miami. We miss it… Read full post »

Dublin, 2009. Scholars of James Joyce's so-called 'dirty' Letters to Nora are said to be bitterly disappointed with the recently discovered 'naughty' Limerick for Brandi, the poet's massage therapist.

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I WOULD IN THAT SWEET BOSOM BE

There's no place I'd… Read full post »

As this edition of Lost Limericks goes to press, The Yeats Society remains mired in acrimonious debate regarding the authenticity of "Sailing to Byzantium by Way of Nantucket."  

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The Second Coming

A beast with the head of a man

Is crouched in the hot… Read full post »

This time, when I get to the edge of the ocean I don't turn aside and I don't stop walking. Edges are an illusion. Set-dressing in our shared dream of order. 

I don't test the water this time. I don't break my stride. Seafoam teases my toes. I keep walking. Ankle-deep, the… Read full post »

A fine old dog died a year ago. Her favorite toy and most revered American statesman was Squeaky President Bush's Head. I was never sure how to feel about that.

It frankly gave me the creeps sometimes - the vacant gaze, the furrowed brow forever frozen in an… Read full post »