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I Object!

Home alone again, watching TVA young girl sees who she wants to beShe hears a phrase and sees the effectSo she tries it out: “I Object!” She sees herself in a courtroom dramaOf course the judge looks just like her mamaWho looks at her daughter with little respectBut then the whole world changes: “I object!”...

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Let Us Now Praise

Let us now praise the donut that is glazed Its existence surely a quantum leap Pastry evolution crawled at a creep The shape, the hole, we were not yet amazed  Icing ideas unthought never fazed   Divine inspiration  – baker asleep A sweet syrup dream to taste is to weep Let us now worship with coffee...

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Our First Gods

They were our first Gods     With secret shame they breathed us          Into a world of water sky               Cain and Abel sacrifice                    Celebrated and disparaged They were our first Gods     Prayers not meant to free...

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Thou Shalt Dance

Thou Shalt Dance I walked a bridge – never meant to crossI couldn’t see that it would be any loss Climbed over the rail, the end of my arcReady to sail…then a voice from the dark  “Really?” I wanted no witness, I hadn’t foreseen thisNone of his business, an inconvenience  I did not move yet I longed...

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The Ken Burns Effect

When he orders a meal, he slowly raises his head The waitress comes into focus quite slowly And when he finally orders, no words are said But there’s a voiceover by Peter Coyote If there were an effect that bore my name Jittery out-of-focus closeup shots The subject drifts in and out of the frame...

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Albert the Kangaroo

Albert was a kangarooWho lived in a zoo in Kalamazoo,Michigan, which is notAustralia OK food, OK viewFriends, furniture OK toobut then again, this was notAustralia One evening he spoke with Joe GiraffeWho told a joke, Al did not laughHe was low could only wonderhow to get over and go down under –Australia Elephant Jack said...

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Beverly Watkins 1930-2019

She liked to tell the story, when she was sixty twoNominated in the category of Best New Artist DebutIf you were a woman of color,  pretty sure to bePlaying undercover in obscurity Like Memphis Minnie before and Sister Rosetta TharpeAnd many more who blazed guitar to a wailing harpMisogynist racists kept them out of the...

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