To make money do what you may
And let no rules come in your way,
Capitalism blares
As laissez-faire declares
Wild ways to thievery,
Packaged nigh cleverly
For robber barons of today,
Who should look in mirror
To reflect on error
And ponder, made they are of clay.
____________________
Happenings |19.11.2024|money, business, mirror
Poet’s note: US, who has charged an Adani company of financial misdeeds, needs to look into its own history of capitalism. The first two lines of this ditty talk of what laissez-faire was and still largely is. A list compiled in 1934 named 26 robber barons (a German term for knights who charged illegal tolls from travellers along with other forms of thuggery). The list includes Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan, and John D Rockefeller-- who later turned philanthropists and promoters of art to earn rubber stamp of public approval. The country reminds us of a cat on a pilgrimage:
Upon killing hundreds of mice,
A cat is out to wash her vice,
On holy pilgrimage
To pop up her image,
Poor mice paying her laundry price.
rubber stamp, businessmirrormoney
Form: Limerick
My smiles just for the institution,
Which trifles not with constitution:
Brooks not the safest prostitution,
Defaulters starving restitution...
Institution that works with tuition
To minds prepare for intuition,
So that yesterday's Dumped Destitute
Is not today's Bitter Prostitute...
Institution tasting sweet Appeal,
No plans to Sacrosanct Laws repeal:
A body for Routine procreation
Of men with famished eyes on fruition.
That's institution for Rubber Stamp
None other ever served as the Lamp
rubber stamp, agecommunitypeoplepolitical
Form: Rhyme
In early eighteen-forty-four,
In Cornwall’s heart; on Bodmin Moor,
Charlotte Dymond, a young farm maid,
Had her throat slit with a steel blade,
She crossed fast streams and deadly bogs,
Found her way through mists and fogs,
But couldn’t stop that fatal blow,
That stole her life and laid her low,
She walked to meet someone that day,
Just who that was ... no one would say,
Found days later beside a track,
Laid on a cart; her shroud a sack,
The surgeon, Thomas Good, was fetched,
Had in his mind, her white face etched,
Charlotte untouched by fox or crow,
Had she been moved ... he did not know,
No evidence was ever found,
But her young boyfriend had gone to ground,
Fingers so quick to point his way,
Matthew Weeks panicked; ran away,
The hapless cripple, was soon caught,
No other culprit was ever sought,
The judge was just a rubber-stamp,
Bodmin Gaol was dark and damp,
The scaffold built, the crowds arrived,
Matthew swore he had not lied,
The floor gave way, the rope drew tight,
Was justice done ... the verdict right?
rubber stamp, deathgirlgriefjudgement
Form: Rhyme
In early eighteen-forty-four,
In Cornwall’s heart; on Bodmin Moor,
Charlotte Dymond, a young farm maid,
Had her throat slit with a steel blade,
She crossed fast streams and deadly bogs,
Found her way through mists and fogs,
But couldn’t stop that fatal blow,
That stole her life and laid her low,
She walked to meet someone that day,
Just who that was ... no one would say,
Found days later beside a track,
Laid on a cart; her shroud a sack,
The surgeon, Thomas Good, was fetched,
Had in his mind, her white face etched,
Charlotte untouched by fox or crow,
Had she been moved ... he did not know,
No evidence was ever found,
But her young boyfriend had gone to ground,
Fingers so quick to point his way,
Matthew Weeks panicked; ran away,
The hapless cripple, was soon caught,
No other culprit was ever sought,
The judge was just a rubber-stamp,
Bodmin Gaol was dark and damp,
The scaffold built, the crowds arrived,
Matthew swore he had not lied,
The floor gave way, the rope drew tight,
Was justice done ... the verdict right?
rubber stamp, evilgirlinnocencemurder
Form: Rhyme
a narrative with alliteration
Royal radio reviews the Rainbow Raffle Rally planned to raise rubles
for the rugged racetrack recently recommended ‘round Rybinsk Reservoir.
One rich ruler, who runs the Ragweed Railway resists with red-ribbon resolve.
His rogue reaction to a ring of rubber stamp rednecks
left realistic Regnum reporters in a rush to rock their readers
regarding the rift between the Ragweed Roadblock and the Rainbow Raffle.
Rather like a rabbit racing a rhino, such rivalry is not reasonable.
Rally is off the radar - racetrack has been royally rejected!
February 10, 2020
Brian Strand, host
STRAND Select J, contest
rubber stamp, 11th graderacerainbow
Form: Narrative
Do you have a copy machine?
Well certainly, Wal-mart said.
And she proved it.
I don’t suppose you have a notary, I said hesitantly.
I AM a notary, Wal-mart said.
She grabbed up her rubber stamp, ready to stamp.
I don’t suppose you take blood tests here, I asked.
“DNA tests?” She asked, perking up, getting out a DNA kit.
“Marriage blood tests,” I said.
Bring him over here, Wal-mart said.
“I am a reverend as of yesterday, and a justice of the peace
as of an hour ago. Blood tests are out. You can marry your brother now.”
Wow, Wal-mart! Wow!
I grabbed my brother.
rubber stamp, 10th grade11th grade
Form: Light Verse
What is truth?
We live our lives being told what is true.
Truths in science fall by the wayside when
new “truths” are discovered. But, how true are they?
Religions will tell you their truths.
Problem is, few agree. So how true can they be?
People will tell what is true but can they be trusted?
Society will tell its truths, but should you agree?
We are born into a world full of “truths”.
Truths laid down by others, many long dead.
Should we simply acquiesce, simply say yes to whatever we’re told?
The answer is no. Open your mind to all the possibilities.
Do not let others rubber stamp your beliefs.
Many snake oil salesmen will try to out fox.
Ask questions, think hard, don’t simply agree.
Think outside the box.
rubber stamp, art
Form: Prose Poetry
An Alligator Poem of Course
Fed potent sweet potaters to some alligators
Who later in life liked to and became demonstrators
And will all swim along in water single file
When opening long mouth have a languishing smile.
Back and forth each one will wiggle long tail
While on wide back while wear many a scale
Big eyes out of water both are protruding
While branches and stumps will be eluding.
Alligators have own way of doing things
And with whole body each of them brings
An eye considered to be a constant rover
Always liking to look for a leftover.
An alligator never will want to alienate
Or while at it start to or try and agitate
Mouths become unruly like a rubber stamp
Putting impressions on you when down do clamp.
Sounds like a North Carolina Politician of one sort or another.
James Thomas Horn
Retired Veteran
Bolivia, NC
rubber stamp, philosophypolitical
Form: Couplet
Communicative ballet
Swarming like bats-
Our urgent pressing bodies
Limited in time
Breathe their own space
Beyond melted wax flesh
Though still beholden
To each reverbation of sinew
In a disco with death
Digital hierarchy resumes
Unload, reload
Move to a new folder
Hard drive luminescent
But our voices gather like rain
Searching the strip malls
Looking for love
Amidst all the obesity
Darling, come to me in full dance
Bring your passion and glory
We are the soul's history
Given a rubber stamp
To impress this moment
With human urgency
rubber stamp, dedicationhope
Form: Free verse