pantoum's Diaryland Diary

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THE PRESIDENT AND THE POET

229.

THE PRESIDENT AND THE POET COME TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE
by LR Berger

I only agreed to compromise when it became clear
they were already stealing them again out from under us:
words, one at a time.

Okay, I said, like some ambassador for language
facing him hunched over my yellow pad of conditions.

He was wearing his orange tie and with the graciousness
of one who believes they have little to lose, he said,
There are far too many words, anyway.

Okay, then, I said, you can have CONQUEST
and DOW JONES.
You can have BOMBS, but we want the SMART back.

This was fine with him. He had plenty of other words
for SMART,
and would trade it for IMPERIAL and NUCLEAR.

TRADE is a word, I said, you might as well keep,
but don�t touch SHADOW or PHENOMENA.

I gave up SOFT when paired with TARGETS
for the names of every bird. He said he�d consider
relinquishing CITIZEN for CUSTOMER.

I made my claim for CONSCIENCE, but he refused
Until I sacrificed PERFECTION.

That�s when he stood up shaking and wagging
his finger at me.
He had spotted GOD upside-down on my list.

Under no circumstances, he said, do you get GOD,
and only calmed down when he heard me announce
I completely agreed with him.

God, I said, must be returned to God.

But this wasn�t what he had in mind.
In his mind were SHOCK and AWE.

SHOCK was the word to bring me to my feet,
because poets can rise up angry and shaking
for what they love too.

SHOCK, I said. You can have SHOCK.
But AWE�over my dead body.

(from Peacework, reprinted in the Institute for Advanced Feminist Research�s Shock and Awe: War on Words

�

Gawd it seems like forever since I�ve written a decent blog entry. I am ostensibly doing research on eBook options for a Thursday meeting�can clients pick and choose individual pages, create their own eBook from pages of our publications?�(frankly, I�m not sure I want them to do this even if they can), and how the hell do these e-publishers arrive at a pricing structure for electronic versions of their books?

(I�ve found lots of anecdotal evidence, but little else, so this is not going to be a fun meeting.) In truth, I just don�t have enough brain cells left to concentrate on this anymore today though. I have been a traveling fool for a month now and I am road weary, ready to crawl into my soft, soft bed and go to sleep before dark.

Huh. Now here�s a sobering thought. I just balanced my checkbook and realized that I have spent $254 in gas in the last twenty days! And I don�t even drive an SUV. Duuuuurn!

SANG IN SHOWER: took a bath at 5 AM at Pottergrrl�s this morning and was far too busy yawning to sing

LISTENING TO: myself yawning (still)

READING: shock and awe: war on words

SELECT SPAM: excellence stew (random poetry!)

2:52 p.m. - 2005-08-22

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