"One small step for mankind..."
I.B. Rad
ibradeck@aol.com
Twin sets
of hominid tracks
stamped in stone,
what can their pattern mean?
Was the deeper, wider trail
laid by a male?
[Note the abrupt sprint
of the lighter print
which then curves in
on the other.
See, where they converge,
the fainter gait on tiptoe...]
Just two sets of imprints,
an heroic instant
locked in stolid rock.
As to the pair's intent,
should we even know?
The jpg illustration is for "One small step...". The caption I use there was "This illustration is indebted to Jay Matternes and painting from "Lucy, The Beginning of Humankind."" As I rember it there are 3 species of hominids present. I substituted a "Lucy" that I though would be a little more striking in the copy of the original painting, though I screwed up on her feet a bit. And, of course, the moonwalker wasn't in the original book illustration.
(untitled)
Michael H Brownstein
garlic2222@aol.com
Rain cannot come without dirt,
specks flung high through air.
Mud cannot form eithout dirt,
a mixture of earth and water.
Gardens cannot be without dirt,
the germinaton of seed to flower.
And when winter comes to this place,
the forest no longer can breath.
Everything changes and everything
stays the same--dirt is dirt always.
are they invincible
aeon logan
when things get tough, when you get the bad breaks,
well, they get better
eventually they do
people don't think about killing themselves
I mean, not as a real option
you'd have to be crazy, right?
It will get better. Trust me.
no one wants to think about the bad stuff
everyone wants to see the light at the end of the tunnel
no one wants to think that bad things can happen to them
are they invincible?
sometimes things don't work out that way, don't they
no, you don't want to think about the bad stuff
you want to think about the things
that are supposed to make life grand for you
we all want that, don't we
When God blew down
I.B. Rad
ibradeck@aol.com
Some think it was all thunder and lightening
when God blew down
howling to Adam and Eve,
"Ingrates! You've tasted the forbidden fruit!
Stay the hell out of my garden!"
Now actually, it was a perfect day
when God dropped in, grousing
that managing the universe
was an dreadful job
and that he'd planned Eden
to render relaxation for his frantic hours
[much like present day aquariums;]
so accordingly, it's residents were to laze about
placidly supping on divine providence
instead of craving the uncertain fruit of knowledge.
"But that apple practically dropped in our lap,"
sniveled a distraught Eve.
"It all went so easily,
why blame us for thinking
you'd had a change of heart;
besides, as the ultimate know-it-all,
you must have realized
we'd be bored out of our skulls.
And anyway, after absorbing a little knowledge,
I've come to realize
that keeping Adam happy
means suffering Adam's baby in my belly
while the father of my misery
is free to seek another set of loins.
Frankly, I'd much prefer a bowel movement
for when it's done, it's over;
whereas, these little parasites hang on for life!
Couldn't you have contrived a prettier scheme
like having women fashion mounds
to brood their eggs?
Then, 9 months later,
we could uncover our squalling brats
and bestow them on the fathers."
"And what's in store for me," moaned Adam,
"but long hours of toil to feed my thankless brood
that they might grow up to do the same
ad infinitum. An infinite progression
of despicable, mewling fools.
Couldn't you have devised a happier fate?!"
"Just what I'd hoped to avoid," moaned God.
I set you in an earthly paradise,
so you could provide amusement
as ever dutiful pets.
Instead, I'm all stressed out
with your nagging ingratitude!"
Just then a hapless snake crawled by
griping, "Why am I perpetually damned
to creep upon all fours,
instead of soaring like an eagle.
"You ungrateful devil! " Cried God;
"henceforth, you'll crawl upon your belly!
As for my rebellious pets,
as they've made a hell of paradise,
let them make a paradise of hell!
Let there be deserts, steaming jungles, arctic winds,
and, above all else, let their lives be dog eat dog
and senseless toil everlasting.
- that'll fix 'em!
Then, when they whine their insipid prayers,
'Tough shit!' I'll say,
as the cosmos dances indifferently on its way."
Thank you for your note. The giff goes with "When God Came Thundering Down" and I subcaptioned it as follows "In order of presentation, illustrations were provided by Hugo van der Goes, Masaccio, Barbara kruger, and Lynda Benglis."
AND THIS IS WHERE MY MEMORIES BEGIN
Jason Pettus
It's 1975. I'm looking at a calendar from McDonnell Douglas that dad's brought home and put on my bedroom door. It shows the entire year at one glance, and it's taller than me. And the whole calendar is done in the same font as the McDonnell Douglas logo, which I figure out later in life is Swiss Expanded, but at the time just struck me as a really cool font. And I remember this, I remember this very clearly, I remember staring at September, right at eye level, and thinking:
"Ford is the President of the United States."
And then I thought:
"I wonder what a President is."
door frame
Gabriel Athens
gathens@aol.com
doorbell
hour
magazine
door
man
suit
hallway
briefcase
worn
flashed
tired
smile
almost
genuine.
rambled
what
wanted
selling
head
dizzy
confusing
words
nonsense
sense
heard
listen
door
frame
steady
thoughts
down
stopped
do
ask
ideology
poison
slammed
face
alone
frame
down
VALIUM
Jennifer Rowan
jenn_writer@sympatico.ca
daydreams
unrecorded actions
speaking to me
softly
i find myself awake and wondering
where my day has gone
because I take pills after hours
To keep surprises from killing me
I am so tired
But not sleepy
I think you know the feeling
where your mind wanders madly
trying to find solace in the most
obscure situations
like hallucinations of hopping rabbits
and old men giving your sister hickies
oh please let me slide
down into the void that gives sense to the world
a match
Alexandria Rand
alexrand96@aol.com
"I once set fire to my fingernail.
I wanted my finger to be a
human candle."
She dropped another match into her glass.
The flame sizzled
in the drops of drink at the bottom.
She struck another match
at the side of the box. Kitchen matches.
Six or seven lay on the cocktail napkin,
ten more at the bottom of the glass.
In a corner booth, in this small club
the flame she aroused looked like
any other table light.
But the club was hers. She owned it
feet on the bench, knees bent.
Everything there focused on her
and the little piece of energy
she held.
Everything there was hers to abuse.
And she struck another match.
"An old flame used to say
that everyone is a pyro at heart."
And she blushed.
"Yeah, I set my
fingernail on fire
as I was talking to someone.
It was a fake nail. The burning
plastic smelled.
But I didn't realize what I had done
until I felt the heat on my skin."
Just then you could see the flame
dancing at her fingertip.
She shook the match. She dropped it in her glass.
Nature's Beauty
CJ Wilson
sssprogress@hotmail.com
Showers brighten
colors of spring
the senses are alive with the colors of nature.
A Select Few Things
helena wolfe
I can only think of a few things
a select few things
I've wanted to know that you are
willing to give me that
that you feel it in the same way I do
I'm not going to tease you about this
and I'm not going to make a promise
I won't keep
everything I say is a promise to you
it's a promise to my life
it's a promise to my future
you better believe in the same things I do
I don't like getting my hopes up for nothing
So prove me wrong
Treats
CJ Wilson
sssprogress@hotmail.com
She is happy when she eats orange juice ice cream
Yummy
Nutritious treats cool on a hot day
Periodically, repeatedly she says "Grandma, I love you."
Can I Ask You Something?
marina arturo
Can I ask you something?
What is going on in our world?
Microwaves, LaMachines,
Cordless telephones and things,
Ice Cream Makers, toasters, bakers
Answering machines?
VCRs remote control,
chainc electroplated gold,
Home computers, private tutors,
Fans to make you cold?
Wasn't iut where it used to be
Our lives were automation-free?
It's put our world into a twirl
And now it won't let us be
CORNER OF VOID & DIRTY
Cheryl A Townsend
It started out as Monday and it ended as Monday. How much more tedious can a life get? My fugitive soul is out chasing yet another sin. Remorse shadows me no matter what the time. There are too many distractions. The best are always by mistake. Boredom sets into my thighs and spreads. I can never find my reasons when it's time to go home. Lies flow like breath. I offered tomorrow, but that was yesterday. Changes. Where is my life when I need it the most?
Crazy Women Talking: This Much I've Learned
shannon peppers
I'm beginning to think
the guy-side of me is supposed to make all the decisions,
know what is right and what isn't
People look at men
differently than they do women
this much I've learned
So maybe if I told you what went through my head
and I said it like I was a guy,
maybe it wouldn't be so bad then
maybe you could handle the news then
Maybe I could tell you there's this girl I know
and she can't be strong all the time
and she doesn't know how to speak sometimes
I could tell you she needs attention
she needs to be helped
but the punch line:
she doesn't need it from just anyone
she needs that from you
Maybe she wants to cry
but she asks: who to anymore?
she has no one, but
she needs someone
she needs that someone to be you
I could say
some of this doesn't make sense
some of it just sounds like a crazy woman talking
but sometimes that's what women are
That's what I would
as a man
have to ask you
I'd have to ask,
Isn't it worth it sometimes?
after I get all of this out,
I could stop acting like a guy
and just be a girl
you would listen
and you would know what to do for me
and maybe then you could
be the guy and take control
and make a decision
so that I don't have to make all the decisions
because I'm not a guy, and I want
you to be the guy, and
I want you to make some decisions too
COMPUTER SAVVY
Jason Pettus
You used to be terrified of computers. When dad and I owned a TRS-80 Color Computer in the late '70s and kept it in the den, you wouldn't even walk in the room. You'd stand there at the edge of the den and call out, "Jason. Jason. Time for dinner."
But then, after I was in college, you decided to finally accept a full-time school nursing position, after a decade of the school district begging you to accept one. It was at a brand new grade school, and the district had made the decision to make this the first computer-standard school in the system's history. Every single person on staff was issued a Macintosh Classic, and they were all networked to each other inside the building so that there was an in-house e-mail system for all of you. And since you were doing work that you sometimes needed to bring home, you and dad bought your own Mac to have at home. Dad had the souped up Windows machine in the den; you had your cute little Mac in the family room.
And every time I'd come home, you knew a little bit more, and a little bit more, and you got less and less scared by the month. And one weekend I came home and you were talking about work, and you said, "And my entire hard drive crashed at work and Mike had to come in and reconstruct the whole thing." And I thought... wow! Who are you? And what have you done with my mother?
But still, to this day, your favorite piece of software, the one you use almost constantly, is PrintShop, the ultimate "user-friendly" program that helps people design greeting cards. Even to this day, ten years after you originally got the program and have since moved on to the "PrintShop Deluxe on CD-ROM," I will come home for holiday and you will show me a new card you've just created.
And you say the same thing every time. "Look, Jason, look! I made this myself!"
Get Me Through My Life
sydney anderson
there was a time tonight
when i thought you would come up to me
and act like you had never met me before
and well, i did not know what else to say
and so i did the same
it is strange to be in a place you have not been to before
because i think that when i see something familiar
and then see something different
it is at times like that
when i try to come up with stories in my head
to get me through the days and get me through my life
so we figured we'd have to write out information
that our readers might want to know
in the form of a poem, since
they seldom look over the ads.
ha! we got you, you thought
you were reading a poem, when it's actually
the dreaded advertising. but wait -
you'll actually want to read this, we think.
Okay, it's this simple: send us your
poetry, prose or art work to
alexrand96@aol.com. Then sit and wait.
Pretty soon you'll hear that
(a) Your work sucks, or (b)
This is fancy crap, and we're gonna print it. It's that simple!
is that all? yeah, we think that's pretty much it...
---
what is veganism?
A vegan (VEE-gun) is someone who does not consume any animal products. While vegetarians avoid flesh foods, vegans don't consume dairy or egg products, as well as animal products in clothing and other sources.
why veganism?
This cruelty-free lifestyle provides many benefits, to animals, the environment and to ourselves. The meat and dairy industry abuses billions of animals. Animal agriculture takes an enormous toll on the land. Consumtion of animal products has been linked to heart disease, colon and breast cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes and a host of other conditions.
so what is vegan action?
We can succeed in shifting agriculture away from factory farming, saving millions, or even billions of chickens, cows, pigs, sheep turkeys and other animals from cruelty.
We can free up land to restore to wilderness, pollute less water and air, reduce topsoil reosion, and prevent desertification.
We can improve the health and happiness of millions by preventing numerous occurrences od breast and prostate cancer, osteoporosis, and heart attacks, among other major health problems.
A vegan, cruelty-free lifestyle may be the most important step a person can take towards creatin a more just and compassionate society. Contact us for membership information, t-shirt sales or donations.
vegan action
po box 4353, berkeley, ca 94707-0353
510/704-4444
MIT Vegetarian Support Group (VSG)
functions:
* To show the MIT Food Service that there is a large community of vegetarians at MIT (and other health-conscious people) whom they are alienating with current menus, and to give positive suggestions for change.
* To exchange recipes and names of Boston area veg restaurants
* To provide a resource to people seeking communal vegetarian cooking
* To provide an option for vegetarian freshmen
We also have a discussion group for all issues related to vegetarianism, which currently has about 150 members, many of whom are outside the Boston area. The group is focusing more toward outreach and evolving from what it has been in years past. We welcome new members, as well as the opportunity to inform people about the benefits of vegetarianism, to our health, the environment, animal welfare, and a variety of other issues.
The Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology
The Solar Energy Research & Education Foundation (SEREF), a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., established on Earth Day 1993 the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST) as its central project. CREST's three principal projects are to provide:
* on-site training and education workshops on the sustainable development interconnections of energy, economics and environment;
* on-line distance learning/training resources on CREST's SOLSTICE computer, available from 144 countries through email and the Internet;
* on-disc training and educational resources through the use of interactive multimedia applications on CD-ROM computer discs - showcasing current achievements and future opportunities in sustainable energy development.
The CREST staff also does "on the road" presentations, demonstrations, and workshops showcasing its activities and available resources.
For More Information Please Contact: Deborah Anderson
dja@crest.org or (202) 289-0061