the poetrysheet
whimsy, subversion, bowling
Number 465, Feb. 16, 2004
Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury (1838–1915)
“We went down into
dungeons underneath the water, where they used to keep State prisoners, kept
them buried alive for years. We saw all the old instruments of torture; rusty
iron cages where a man couldn’t lie down or stand up, but had to sit bent over
till he grew crooked. It made you feel queer when you came up, to think how
people had been left to rot away down there, when there was so much sun and
water outside. Seems like something used to be the matter with the world.”
—Usher to Claude, the Marine, and Fanning, in “Book Four: The
Voyage of the Anchises”
from One of Ours
By Will Leathem
Ok, so I am an inveterate rooter for the
underdog—be it primal-screaming Howard Dean or the Panthers. True to form, such
was the case with Sunday's much ballyhooed Super Bowl extravaganza.
In recent years, I've noted that most
pre-game chatter has little to do with teams, defense, offense, strategies,
etc. Instead, the great preponderance of talk is speculation about the
commercials.
Yes, the Super Bowl is the time when the
advertisers roll out their coolest, funniest, most spectacularly special-effected
sales pitches. Where else but in America does the public interest in mechanism
make the prime activity of second-string importance? We are, indeed, a strange
and wonderful people.
I was particularly intrigued by the CBS
decision to refuse time to one particular commercial, "Child's Pay"
by amateur filmmaker, Charlie Fisher of Denver.
Now, CBS extorts (I mean 'charges'...)
third parties wishing to access the public airwaves well in excess of $1
million for each 30-second ad. A political organization named MoveOn.org agreed
to underwrite the showing of "Child's Pay" and had raised the
one-plus million dollar extortion (I mean 'fee'...) from its grassroots network
in small contributions—$10, $20, and $100 at a time (as opposed to the
mega-corps with multi-million dollar ad budgets).
Yet, CBS refused to accept the one-plus
million dollars and refused to show "Child's Pay." Granted,
MoveOn.org is a political organization and, as such, has a political agenda.
But CBS did show some spots produced by the Whitehouse (an institution known
for espousing its political agenda). CBS pleaded the high-mindedness of the
Whitehouse's "anti-drug" ads as its excuse—ads CBS proudly showed
side-by-side with a virtually unending stream of ads begging Americans to
purchase beer, Viagra (boner pills), and a host of other 'legal'
pharmaceuticals (but then, that's another discussion...).
So, just what was so disturbing, so
controversial (more controversial than the multi-million dollar exposure of
Janet Jackson's boob, for instance) that the ever-caring, ever-concerned CBS
big-wigs felt that they needed to step in and proactively protect YOU, the
viewer, and preempt the good name of that sacrosanct institution, the Super Bowl
(and its high-priced carnival of buy-buy-buy sponsors) from the viewing of such
a subversive ad as "Child's Pay?"
Well, why don't you see for yourself?
Visit:
http://www.bushin30seconds.org
Click on "Child's Pay,” then press
the play arrow below the blank TV screen.
Will Leathem owns
Prospero’s Books, a new and used bookstore at 1800 W. 39th St.,
Kansas City, MO. He is a political activist, publisher, writer, and constant
supporter of poetry and literature in Kansas City. He is also a semi-regular
contributor to the poetrysheet. The bookstore Web site is at www.prosperosbookstore.com.
Today’s poems:
times like this
aren’t to be alone—
waking on cold mornings
ice quaking up the panes
breath draped from the dog’s snout
water’s frozen in the bowl
bush skeltons scratch the house
confusion hangs along the fence
chaos’s loose in the wood pile
stink’s sub-zeroed over the compost
end of the week, maybe
the sun will arrive
free the miasmas
inside and out
let lives grow again
Peace and war
By Matt Bernier
What can we do about this world of ours?
The love, hate, peace, and wars?
It's too confusing to grow up in
kindness, trouble, good and sin.
How are children supposed to learn to
behave?
To love, hate, enjoy, or enslave?
Set an example for those who are
watching,
With acts, deeds, spirit, and talking
Do what you say and say what you mean.
send short poems, short thoughts, fictions, or
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