Southward bound

this is it
less than a day to go
i hope you re packed
i have my stateroom
all fitted out
i found a nice place
in one of your jacket pockets
underneath a couple of a t m receipts
and next to a very old bus pass
i made a nice nest out of
the tooth picks from
grocery store cheese samples
it s not only comfy
but it provides
all the in flight smacks
a cockroach could desire

let s get this show
on the road

yee haw

The bug and the blogger meet the scientists

boss

i m looking forward
to our big trip
to north carolina

great uncle archy
was a world traveller
he went to france
after the war to end all war
to watch them put together
the peace that ended all peace
he hung out with ghosts in london
and tourists in hollywood
oh the stories he used to tell

me i ve never been
east of aurora blvd
or north of the late lamented
larry s market

you re not much better
oh sure you visited serbia
to chat with an old revolutionist
and went to leningrad
to look at the icons
but you ve only seen
the upper left hand corner
of your own country

we both need a change
let s pack our grips
and hop a plane
back east and down south
to rub shoulders
with the science set
you don t have to tell them
you were a history major

we can see
if they finally
ended prohibition
in the bible belt
but only in the interests
of scientific research
of course

and piously they said a grace*

well boss
as much as it pains me
to say it
it looks like cheney
and his goons
on the far side of the aisle
may have had
the right dope after all
obama was elected
and the terrorists
have attacked

looking over the news this morning
i see that someone walked
into a church on sunday
as people often do
and shot a doctor
which people don t do
at least not in church
not yet
let s hope this doesn t
start a trend

the holy cows
of the religious right and
all their mindless acolytes
hated george tiller
with a burning hate
that shamed the novae
and supernovae
that light the skies
of distant worlds
in the milky way

of course
they never said hate
that s not
the christian way
with love in their hearts
and a song of
praise on their lips
they
called him tiller the killer
called him murderer
called him the mengele of our day
they said hands
were covered with blood
they said he belonged with mao
and hitler
and stalin
they said he must be stopped
they said he must be brought to
ironic quote justice ironic unquote

then they
bombed his clinic
laid siege to his clinic
shot him once
sent their jesse and his camera
to chase his lawyer
and another camera
to chase him
and call him more names
investigated him
prosecuted him
they discovered
a series of pipes
that they could use
to put his face on wanted posters
and tell their friends
how to find his home
to watch him
and call him still more
scary names

they cried
who will rid us of this troublesome doctor
and someone killed him
in a church
who could have
predicted such a thing

then
they said
we are shocked
shocked we tell you
to find that
anyone would listen to us
and act on our words
we hate violence and
hope no one will
think we are to blame
we have only
love in our hearts
and a song of
praise on our lips
we are as pure as
the driven snow
no terrorists we

with wide eyed innocence
they asked the whirring
cameras of the fourth estate
if other doctors
feel a terror
that other assassins
might be inspired
to do the same
and flee their clinics
and their patients
how can that be
our fault
we are secure
they said
in the knowledge
that terror never comes
from the right and
the church going
assassins are always
other people

and piously they said a grace

* or archy revised by john

aesop revised by archy

a wolf met a spring
lamb drinking
at a stream
and said to her
you are the lamb
that muddied this stream
all last year
so that i could not get
a clean fresh drink
i am resolved that
this outrage
shall not be enacted again
this season i am going
to kill you
just a minute said the lamb
i was not born last
year so it could not
have been i
the wolf then pulled
a number of other
arguments as to why the lamb
should die
but in each case the lamb
pretty innocent that she was
easily proved
herself guiltless
well well said the wolf
enough of that argument
you are right and i am wrong
but i am going to eat
you anyhow
because i am hungry
stop exclamation point
cried a human voice
and a man came over
the slope of the ravine
vile lupine marauder
you shall not kill that
beautiful and innocent
lamb for i shall save her
exit the wolf
left upper exit
snarling
poor little lamb
continued our human hero
sweet tender little thing
it is well that i appeared
just when i did
it makes my blood boil
to think of the fright
to which you have been
subjected in another
moment i would have been
too late come home with me
and the lamb frolicked
about her new found friend
gambolling as to the sound
of a wordsworthian tabor
and leaping for joy
as if propelled by a stanza
from william blake
these vile and bloody wolves
went on our hero
in honest indignation
they must be cleared out
of the country
the meads must be made safe
for sheepocracy
and so jollying her along
with the usual human hokum
he led her to his home
and the son of a gun
did not even blush when
they passed the mint bed
gently he cut her throat
all the while inveigling
against the inhuman wolf
and tenderly he cooked her
and lovingly he sauced her
and meltingly he ate her
and piously he said a grace
thanking his gods
for their bountiful gifts to him
and after dinner
he sat with his pipe
before the fire meditating
on the brutality of wolves
and the injustice of
the universe
which allows them to harry
poor innocent lambs
and wondering if he
had not better
write to the paper
for as he said
for god s sake can t
something be done about
it