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"npr" poems
Wussup, professional Latina? Diversity been good 2 U? Water warm enough 4 U? Shaking down enuf rich gringos to fund your Non-Profit? (*speak against capitalismo here*) Got time for la Revolución after your pedicure today? (mention the border here) still watching Oprah, Abuela? heard from your third ex-husband recently? Wussup consummate professional. (*turn on NPR here*) Got nail polish? Got car waxed? Got investments? (take a networking business lunch here) Have you streaked your hair enuf? (mention indigenismo here) I hope you are caring well for all the nietos and still have time to be a tiburona (insert italicized Spanish word here) How are all your gente ? (*mention mujeres fuertes here*) Hey Latina - when did you move out of the barrio ? (*mention La Raza here*) Mujer Latina—wussup. how is Gringolandia workin' out 4 U ? (turn off Univision here) 'cause if the oppression gets too bad you could always move back to Venezuela or Chihuahua or San Juan,  or... (*mention Trump here*) ...Miami?
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Apr 22, 2017
Apr 22, 2017 at 7:01 PM UTC
Latina en la tina
And all your heros are gone, but you refuse to take off the mask. A loudmouth, a capitalist, with greasy hair and a golden toothpick, he is your enemy he is your oppressor and he sits upon a throne of coal and blood with armed security and a nation built for him, to protect him and his money, a police state, pat downs on the corner, murdered in the street, your daughters gotta eat. He grows fatter and fatter still, he loves complacency, he loves contentment, he invests heavily in both. He knows we are strong, he knows we are many, he knows he must divide us to win, he knows we're his greatest weapon, so he created Fox News, he created TMZ, stealthily, we didn't even notice, he created NPR and KVIE, he gave them masks that look like ours. They look poor, they look starved, they look like us, but they have a different master. Our master is the earth, our master is our coworker, our neighbor, our mailman, our dishwashers, our bus drivers, our minimart clerks. Our masters are not the TV, our masters are not the radio, our masters are not the New York Times, they are not National Geographic, they are not BP, they are not our principals, our administrators, our policemen, our CEOs, our investors, our bankers, our insurance providers, these people hate us, they hate us because they can't squeeze blood from a stone, and the rivers are running dry, the factories are standing still, the people, our masters and our friends, they're in the streets, they're shouting "BLACK LIVES MATTER" they're shouting "NO JUSTICE NO PEACE" "NO MORE WAR FOR OIL" **** THE POLICE" "DOWN WITH THE 1%" and soon and soon, The False Gods will grow so fat and we'll have nothing left to eat but them, and on that day we'll sit down to dine and it won't be civilized and it won't be pretty, their blood, our blood, will feed the rivers and their flesh will feed our hungry children and their money will burn and warm our chilled bones but we can't wait, we can't wait for this to happen because everyday they grow stronger, we grow weaker and the river becomes dryer. The Bourgeois is our enemy, they say 'All Lives Matter' they say 'Work Hard and Your Dreams Will Come True' BUT THEY LIE
0
Jul 12, 2016
Jul 12, 2016 at 4:54 PM UTC
Untitled
And all your heros are gone, but you refuse to take off the mask. A loudmouth, a capitalist, with greasy hair and a golden toothpick, he is your enemy he is your oppressor and he sits upon a throne of coal and blood with armed security and a nation built for him, to protect him and his money, a police state, pat downs on the corner, murdered in the street, your daughters gotta eat. He grows fatter and fatter still, he loves complacency, he loves contentment, he invests heavily in both. He knows we are strong, he knows we are many, he knows he must divide us to win, he knows we're his greatest weapon, so he created Fox News, he created TMZ, stealthily, we didn't even notice, he created NPR and KVIE, he gave them masks that look like ours. They look poor, they look starved, they look like us, but they have a different master. Our master is the earth, our master is our coworker, our neighbor, our mailman, our dishwashers, our bus drivers, our minimart clerks. Our masters are not the TV, our masters are not the radio, our masters are not the New York Times, they are not National Geographic, they are not BP, they are not our principals, our administrators, our policemen, our CEOs, our investors, our bankers, our insurance providers, these people hate us, they hate us because they can't squeeze blood from a stone, and the rivers are running dry, the factories are standing still, the people, our masters and our friends, they're in the streets, they're shouting "BLACK LIVES MATTER" they're shouting "NO JUSTICE NO PEACE" "NO MORE WAR FOR OIL" **** THE POLICE" "DOWN WITH THE 1%" and soon and soon, The False Gods will grow so fat and we'll have nothing left to eat but them, and on that day we'll sit down to dine and it won't be civilized and it won't be pretty, their blood, our blood, will feed the rivers and their flesh will feed our hungry children and their money will burn and warm our chilled bones but we can't wait, we can't wait for this to happen because everyday they grow stronger, we grow weaker and the river becomes dryer. The Bourgeois is our enemy, they say 'All Lives Matter' they say 'Work Hard and Your Dreams Will Come True' BUT THEY LIE
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66
"She did the laundry in the mirror of me I saw myself in the mirror and disagreed with the smell, The thought of you was beautiful, but I was wrong, and a feeling of discontent -ment came over me," Misspellings Mispronunciations An unconquerable world of big money I parted ways with the large and saw another even larger world, One that was intelligent and reads the Wall Street Journal, listens to NPR, and says "wow" at the sound of hearing one million dollars, or upon hearing about San Francisco start-ups, or Silicon Valley. Or the opposite, in some ways, but still very similar to - Virginia Woolf. whose book on feminism which I'm unable to explain fully other than to say that she suggests that women only need a bedroom, money, clothes, etc., or rather, less than etc. in that, they need little, but only the bare supplies. That they should be able to supply themselves with what they need for when their husband, which, you know, is not required, in her eyes, for when he separates from her and leaves her 'in the dust,' alone without anything, perhaps only with a child, or in another instance, estate-less, with only a white dress, really more of kitchen-robe than anything else; like Virginia Woolf says, we should really try and dismantle the patriarchy that we write and tell about. Reader, what do you after reading a story, article, or book on radical or moderate feminism say? The boys, like me, who will tell, or, try to tell their perspective of the book and say to the closest person around them, "I just read a great book by Virginia Woolf, she brings to mind an image of a university with white buildings and ends of roofs of university buildings leading along to the the main hall of architecture buildings, with sidewalks pristine and underneath people walking in their sweaters, collegiate, and later to make their way to art history classes in the fall evening. So, like Virginia Woolf, who makes you ask why you're not at the Parthenon, but instead are inside of your house, in a city that you don't want to be in, at a hospital, in your apartment, or surrounded by whoever, she nevertheless gives you have a feeling of longing-ness and a strong emotion of want. Virginia Woolf when will we go to Greece together? What do you know about Athens and classical architecture, I nearly beg you. December 30th 2018 7:11am
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Dec 31, 2018
Dec 31, 2018 at 9:51 PM UTC
Virginia Woolf
"She did the laundry in the mirror of me I saw myself in the mirror and disagreed with the smell, The thought of you was beautiful, but I was wrong, and a feeling of discontent -ment came over me," Misspellings Mispronunciations An unconquerable world of big money I parted ways with the large and saw another even larger world, One that was intelligent and reads the Wall Street Journal, listens to NPR, and says "wow" at the sound of hearing one million dollars, or upon hearing about San Francisco start-ups, or Silicon Valley. Or the opposite, in some ways, but still very similar to - Virginia Woolf. whose book on feminism which I'm unable to explain fully other than to say that she suggests that women only need a bedroom, money, clothes, etc., or rather, less than etc. in that, they need little, but only the bare supplies. That they should be able to supply themselves with what they need for when their husband, which, you know, is not required, in her eyes, for when he separates from her and leaves her 'in the dust,' alone without anything, perhaps only with a child, or in another instance, estate-less, with only a white dress, really more of kitchen-robe than anything else; like Virginia Woolf says, we should really try and dismantle the patriarchy that we write and tell about. Reader, what do you after reading a story, article, or book on radical or moderate feminism say? The boys, like me, who will tell, or, try to tell their perspective of the book and say to the closest person around them, "I just read a great book by Virginia Woolf, she brings to mind an image of a university with white buildings and ends of roofs of university buildings leading along to the the main hall of architecture buildings, with sidewalks pristine and underneath people walking in their sweaters, collegiate, and later to make their way to art history classes in the fall evening. So, like Virginia Woolf, who makes you ask why you're not at the Parthenon, but instead are inside of your house, in a city that you don't want to be in, at a hospital, in your apartment, or surrounded by whoever, she nevertheless gives you have a feeling of longing-ness and a strong emotion of want. Virginia Woolf when will we go to Greece together? What do you know about Athens and classical architecture, I nearly beg you. December 30th 2018 7:11am
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41
There Is A Reason ihop Is Open 24 Hours A Day. It's Like A  MmMmMm. Pancakes! Like A Mouth Watering & The Sound Of Fork Scraping Plate, Kind Of Morning, Isn't It? Sunny Saturday Morning In April, With NPR Playing Over The Radio, And The Sound Of Bacon Sizzling, Kind Of Morning. Take It From Me. Watched A Heavy Hearted Seventeen Year Old Sister, Ask For Breakfast Ar Midnight, And The Hours Spent Talking Away Her Heart Ache With Mom Was Just A Side Effect Of The Full Stomach. Stumble Into This. With Bloodshot Eyes, And Ripped Up Jeans, 5am And Hung Over. The Waitress Will Always Take Care Of You. It's Like Her Duty, Along Side Taking Orders And Refilling Empty Coke Glasses, She'll Serve You Blackberry, Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, Strawberry Strung, Bananas, And Whip Cream Shaped Like A Smiley Face, Without Any Questions Asked. Pancakes Are The Breakfast Of Champions. So You Remember This. Your Fork And Knife Battle Weapon, Ready To Turn This 15 Minute Meal Into A Valiant Reawakening. And Remember You Are King Today.   Staff And Stone, And No One Can Destroy You. Eat Up, And Be Strong. Smile. I Dare You. Lick Your Fingers, And Ask For Seconds. This Is Life, And Asking For Another Helping Has Never Been A Bad Thing. Bite Your Tongue, Drink Back This Moment. I'd Ask You To Taste It, If Your Mouths Weren't Already Full. I Know, There Will Be Tequila &Wine; Bottles You'll Try To Drown Yourself In. But I've Learned Something Sticky Sweet Seems To Heal The Broken Edges Just A Little Better. Daddy Always Said There Was A Reason The Light On The 'Waffle House' Sign Never Went Out. A Warm Plate & A Smile Is Sometimes All You Need To Make A Place Home. The Next Time You Get Offered Pancakes, Consider It A Token Of Appreciation. Always Say Yes. Even If You're Not Hungry. Take A Bite. You Won't Regret It. I Promise.
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May 13, 2013
May 13, 2013 at 11:31 AM UTC
Pancakes
There Is A Reason ihop Is Open 24 Hours A Day. It's Like A  MmMmMm. Pancakes! Like A Mouth Watering & The Sound Of Fork Scraping Plate, Kind Of Morning, Isn't It? Sunny Saturday Morning In April, With NPR Playing Over The Radio, And The Sound Of Bacon Sizzling, Kind Of Morning. Take It From Me. Watched A Heavy Hearted Seventeen Year Old Sister, Ask For Breakfast Ar Midnight, And The Hours Spent Talking Away Her Heart Ache With Mom Was Just A Side Effect Of The Full Stomach. Stumble Into This. With Bloodshot Eyes, And Ripped Up Jeans, 5am And Hung Over. The Waitress Will Always Take Care Of You. It's Like Her Duty, Along Side Taking Orders And Refilling Empty Coke Glasses, She'll Serve You Blackberry, Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, Strawberry Strung, Bananas, And Whip Cream Shaped Like A Smiley Face, Without Any Questions Asked. Pancakes Are The Breakfast Of Champions. So You Remember This. Your Fork And Knife Battle Weapon, Ready To Turn This 15 Minute Meal Into A Valiant Reawakening. And Remember You Are King Today.   Staff And Stone, And No One Can Destroy You. Eat Up, And Be Strong. Smile. I Dare You. Lick Your Fingers, And Ask For Seconds. This Is Life, And Asking For Another Helping Has Never Been A Bad Thing. Bite Your Tongue, Drink Back This Moment. I'd Ask You To Taste It, If Your Mouths Weren't Already Full. I Know, There Will Be Tequila &Wine; Bottles You'll Try To Drown Yourself In. But I've Learned Something Sticky Sweet Seems To Heal The Broken Edges Just A Little Better. Daddy Always Said There Was A Reason The Light On The 'Waffle House' Sign Never Went Out. A Warm Plate & A Smile Is Sometimes All You Need To Make A Place Home. The Next Time You Get Offered Pancakes, Consider It A Token Of Appreciation. Always Say Yes. Even If You're Not Hungry. Take A Bite. You Won't Regret It. I Promise.
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34
He didn't earn the name Talk Radio by digging on NPR, he earned the name for being a stupid ****** that never shuts up. Talk wasted his physically fit years chasing shallow *** and creating a seduction ritual, requiring a lighthouse at Lake Hefner. Now he's grappling with his late 20s, trying to retain what's left of his hair, trying to **** in his massive belly, that resembles a pregnant lady, more than a typical beer enthusiast. Speaking of pregnant women, he confessed a ****** obsession centered around their tummy. He asked if I felt the same, I said, "I guess they're cute, but it is in no way a ****** thing. I don't want to go to town on their baby lump." Spending my weekend with Talk, made me thankful for my ability to think rationally.
0
Sep 28, 2010
Sep 28, 2010 at 4:58 PM UTC
Talk Radio
I self-indulged— For me a rare Lapse, an unexpected Slide to materialism. Repenting already, My selfishness. I bought myself Internet Radio. How could I resist? E-Tail has made it so easy. GOTO Amazon Electronics. •Amazon.com: Electronicswww.amazon.com/electronics-store/b?ie=UTF8... Amazon.com, Inc. Online shopping from a great selection at Electronics Store. ... Electronics. Shop for TV & Video, ... Featured Offers in Electronics ... Electronics Categories • ($“Ka-Ching! Ka-Ching!$ Ads in the middle of the freaking poem!”) The omnipresent marketplace: Shop at home in your pajamas, Pay for it with keystrokes, Go back to sleep. FOR SALE:  Hail to thee, Oh bittersweet Credo of Capitalism! I finally broke down, Accepting the fact that RADIO: once a wireless marvel; Now, a fading media option, Its broadcast range Not only shrunk, but Signal reception, downright poor. So, I finally broke down Bought a radio that actually works. So what I want to know Is NPR so full of itself that They go so far to find some British-accent guy to read Sports summaries? I am listening to some Pompous Pommy poofter, At KBOS, Boston, Massachusetts, Nigel Longshanks, himself, Recapping “The Run for the Roses,” Kentucky Derby homestretch, Missed NBA semi-final foul shot & The freakish mojo comeback of Yankee Baseball Bad Boy: A-ROD.
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May 11, 2015
May 11, 2015 at 1:19 PM UTC
“RADIO DAYS”
i am grateful for stretch denim on days when           **** it is a fashion statement for lavender laundry detergent because that smell reminds me of the home i've built in my head for tea at 2 a.m. when all the things i've done race in my head because the next morning, i usually get my **** together for colds because they make eating an entire roll of cinnamon buns completely justifiable for the mountains that surround me for NPR and good, rated M fanfiction for def poetry when i can't find the right words for finding a pack of cigarettes when it is only 11:30pm on a thursday night and i am well past drunk in a slightly damp armchair for harry potter and neil gaiman for when twenty dollars fills up my gas tank for my grandma's potato salad and biscuits with honey for feminist zines that make me want to smash the patriarchy for burts bees chapstick and jasmine-green tea for friends who let me cry on their bedroom floors for books that keep me entertained (even if that means me crying in my bathtub while reading them) for courtney love and joan jett because those ******* have ridden in my car with me over many heart-breaks for well-water and sulfate free red wine for johnny cash and new orleans and whiskey for salt-- because that **** can wash away anything for farmer's markets and co-ops for bottles of water  and for cookie dough when my mouth is the consistency of cotton  and my mind is a little bit gone for warm days in January and cold days in September for breakfast and for hikes that begin at five a.m. for summer nights drunk on wine and a little too much fire for friends who call me 'momma bear' and for friends that call me 'baby bird' for poems that give you cold chills and flowers stolen from my neighbor's yard for skin that smells like the sun and sage for beeswax candles and the smell of clean laundry for days when i wake up and realize i could have died on a bathroom floor
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Jan 22, 2013
Jan 22, 2013 at 7:17 PM UTC
the things i am greatful for
i am grateful for stretch denim on days when           **** it is a fashion statement for lavender laundry detergent because that smell reminds me of the home i've built in my head for tea at 2 a.m. when all the things i've done race in my head because the next morning, i usually get my **** together for colds because they make eating an entire roll of cinnamon buns completely justifiable for the mountains that surround me for NPR and good, rated M fanfiction for def poetry when i can't find the right words for finding a pack of cigarettes when it is only 11:30pm on a thursday night and i am well past drunk in a slightly damp armchair for harry potter and neil gaiman for when twenty dollars fills up my gas tank for my grandma's potato salad and biscuits with honey for feminist zines that make me want to smash the patriarchy for burts bees chapstick and jasmine-green tea for friends who let me cry on their bedroom floors for books that keep me entertained (even if that means me crying in my bathtub while reading them) for courtney love and joan jett because those ******* have ridden in my car with me over many heart-breaks for well-water and sulfate free red wine for johnny cash and new orleans and whiskey for salt-- because that **** can wash away anything for farmer's markets and co-ops for bottles of water  and for cookie dough when my mouth is the consistency of cotton  and my mind is a little bit gone for warm days in January and cold days in September for breakfast and for hikes that begin at five a.m. for summer nights drunk on wine and a little too much fire for friends who call me 'momma bear' and for friends that call me 'baby bird' for poems that give you cold chills and flowers stolen from my neighbor's yard for skin that smells like the sun and sage for beeswax candles and the smell of clean laundry for days when i wake up and realize i could have died on a bathroom floor
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49
terry gross has a purple unicycle she keeps locked away in the far right corner of her basement all things considered on All Things Considered Terry Gross doesn't mention it much but terry gross has a dream and that dream revolves around that purple unicycle she Sees it In her Sleep it calls to her terry Terry TErry why have you forsaken me terry remember the good old days the travelling circus Vladimir the strong man why must you leave me in this temporal hell terry gross listens not she has a new life now NPR will protect her if only she could protect them .
0
Oct 12, 2014
Oct 12, 2014 at 12:35 PM UTC
npr
From a straight back wooden chair, I see a cyan-blue ceramic bowl filled with tangerines next to a desktop radio tuned to NPR & out the kitchen bay window birds bicker over seeds overflowing a feeder, & a raccoon scours the earth below -- I keep in mind the fact all of these things will be absent from my sight one day.
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Jan 23, 2017
Jan 23, 2017 at 8:32 AM UTC
Fact
I am like a plane I read somewhere or heard somewhere I think on NPR about what it's like to see the world! from a plane window. Imagining is having the sights before you! from a plane window. The clouds and the blue blue blue It's the atmosphere. Dear God! You're actually flying Except you're in a whites only plane. Oh! If only it could be bottled and given to the masses Ms. Marlowe introduced me to Prometheus. To search for a way to have what you imagine in yr dreams and in books and hopes to be before you is a ropebridge. It only snaps in the movies baby! If you're any different and it snaps for you, you got death. Which is what you wanted all along, no? When I was a child my mind was ratchet like a plane in turbulence it is rickety the space between Trinidad and Tobago makes me readjust my insides and outsides Climbing Climbing he shakes and flatlines He becomes a hero he knew all along Modern Medicine can make freed slaves become the mothers and fathers of the rice cripsies
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Dec 8, 2011
Dec 8, 2011 at 5:14 PM UTC
Turbulence
This week we talked over beers, and my mother told us a ghost story. We each have dreams that plague us again and again, over years, threatening to creep their way into our realities. (these are our ghosts.) My dream was always deep blue and black, of my body surrounded by water, though I did not drown, or even gasp. I was ensnared in moving parts that I had no power over, held underwater in this churning machine, not quite a victim but certainly not a hero. Sunshine was my eventual respite, as was the cushion of my bed, but the morning always seemed like a fragile gift, then. My mother dreamed of her teeth, over the years. She dreamed that they were the traitors inside her, decaying and betraying, perhaps cackling as they fell to the floor or just lying there like bones. My mother’s delayed trip to the dentist promised her a bridge, or an implant, but also some calm. NPR and This American Life pulled my dream, my ghost, from the shadows, too. The story of a diver ensnared at 900 feet below the sun, who would never see it again. I’ll never be at the bottom of Bushman’s cave, but, the ghosts say, you never know.
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Dec 29, 2014
Dec 29, 2014 at 11:48 PM UTC
Ghost Story
So I hear, just today, in fact, I'm not certain exactly when it was said, a reliable source, NPR, So, I hear that great wall, the BIG & beautiful one on our Southern border, the one HE wanted to build? The one he raged about, & of course, while it was always preposterous, Anyway he says, It can maybe be a fence, instead. Oh my *** Huh, interesting, Well, that's not wishy washy, No, At all... solid guy, he is, & along with all the other rapidly, changing things, that he was so very, passionate about, And given, the absolute myriad of obstacles, from forcing Mexico to pay, (haha- good one) yeah, making Mexico pay, sure, By the way, do you want to work for his immigration? Cuz' he's gonna need a bunch of new recruits, if so, Not to mention, workers to survey & complete, that ridiculous project, the complex geological complications, in an interesting terrain, humph, indeed, & the endless wordly implications, that and so MANY other problems we face, far worse, & BIGGER ones too, Seriously, check it out, it would literally take, FOREVER to build, true narcissism, exists, apparently, Though, he might have single-handedly stopped illegal immigration by being elected. Mission accomplished? Do you wanna come live in the U.S. now? Hahaha, So stupid, not REALLY funny, still good to laugh, This? This is who we elected? were we ALL high, on propaganda? God help us in times of war. Cherie Nolan © 2016
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Nov 13, 2016
Nov 13, 2016 at 1:01 PM UTC
God, Please Help Us All - Part 3
kiss me on the mouth, on the way to the elevators, with everyone all too close, and my heart pounding. squeeze my hand and tell me I'm yours and we'll run to the Hudson through the slush and watch the barges roll by. our breath will be Dragon's fire, and our hearts in our throats, and I'll be so happy I won't say a word. we'll stay up all night watching the lights in Hoboken, sharing a forty and talking about pugs, broken mugs and mice; climbing, metal bands and some story you heard on NPR; your twin brother and sister Patty, and I'll shut you up for telling me the same story for the tenth time and invite myself back to your place, shut the lights off, and cuddle with you all night.
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Jul 20, 2012
Jul 20, 2012 at 12:14 AM UTC
winter (forbidden)
i never pledge i take that back i stopped a check once to a radio station that i really love a breaking-all-the-molds station i listen to NPR like that **** is going out of style like im going to break this milli vanilli tape after one more blame it on the rain im dating myself but truth be told i would rather buy another carton you showed me the most life changing radio songs that made me weep for humanity retreat deep within myself with universal contemplation and yet a cottonless dromedary takes the cake around others i curse these lapses in reporting this evening news wrap-up banter and i fake laugh at you or should i say with you but i feel your pain i tried to sell time shares rich with fake laughter every time i hear it you begging for money that is im taken back to a place where i was foolhardy and manipulative knowledgeable anxious and vibrant i use those moments of nostalgia to think of her you know who im talking about im looking at you RADIOLAB IRA GLASS you arent getting away with this either you know her i dream about what could have been when i was foolhardy, manipulative, knowledgeable, anxious and vibrant and how it would be like today if i had the guts then or time travel now AND if i wasnt even any of the above but i have her now and we listen together we just talk over the drive and the sponsorship ads oh yeah and the international news its just depressing OH and the bbc stuff i dont "get" their accent
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May 11, 2013
May 11, 2013 at 12:14 AM UTC
pledge drive
I am at my best at early a.m. when I click the radio on and listen to NPR interviews of people from countries like Scotland, Nigeria, and Italy; not long ago I heard a Swede tell how he pickles Harbor seal meat,  and a day ago  a Mexican who was shot through the tailbone by a child with a .22 rifle argued  her country has pitiful accommodations for the handicapped. Learning of the Swede, Mexican, and slain seals liven me; and then the sun rises.
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Oct 19, 2016
Oct 19, 2016 at 7:53 AM UTC
National Public Radio: Sunrise
I think about meditation, positivity, and breathing my worries away. I think of opening the blinds to see a monk on fire   so I pick up a pen and write instead. I think about the birds out my window and feel the earth shake as they fly for higher ground. I think of students picking one path to fly and die on Then I think about the value of money and what it's really worth I think about comfort and security then I think of a prison made of meridian sofas and melted credit cards. I think about getting wasted. I think of social networking dissociative isolation and aging narcissism. I think about the homeless man and his house made of boxes outside of NPR's building "This American Life." I think of turning up the noise and smoking an 8th of **** I think about the magnitude of our universe.   I think about *** and image. I think about power and guns. I think about how blind we’ve allowed ourselves to be. then I think of how I can condense these thoughts into a single sentence so it holds your fleeting attention amidst a ******* newsfeed I think about it I do That you should start to think too
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Dec 11, 2014
Dec 11, 2014 at 4:23 AM UTC
I Think
December 1970 I'm 14 Stuck at my grandma's Tired of the drone of Howard Cosell I go walking Jim + Lydia etched on a square Then up ahead A dude ten years older at least Just the age I look up to But this one holding by the hand A little girl ten years my junior "Where's the doggie?" "It's in the..." His words fade. December 2010 I'm 54 Paused in this city where my grandmother lived Tired of the drone of NPR I get out Pass the old house Hands held up against the memories Jim + Lydia 40 years on -- Still together? I'd like to ask Then up ahead An elderly man 10 years my senior And a woman 10 years my junior "Look, they put stained glass on their alcove." "Yeah, they decided to..." His words fade.
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Feb 17, 2013
Feb 17, 2013 at 9:09 AM UTC
Cumberland Circle
Is It wrong That the thing I miss when you're gone Is the television's dull hum The silence is lonely, but the absence is relief That I can walk down into the kitchen without akward words or my *** getting grabbed I Turned on NPR And I felt at ease More at home at night on my own Than I've felt in a long time, am I so wrong if I Can't Say that I'm upset Somehow lost when you Aren't at home in the evening hours? And That I'm Not upset That I don't have to Justify every move and twitch That I prefer to talk to the man who I can't judge? If It is Wrong for me To think like I do (Though you do claim to read my mind) I'm Not sure I can show You who I am now
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May 21, 2018
May 21, 2018 at 11:00 PM UTC
Hum
The nation's midsection bloats like a Mississippi fish in the sun.
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Feb 28, 2013
Feb 28, 2013 at 9:55 AM UTC
NPR (sentence haiku)
The furnace, the one I grew up with in my parents home. Well, she sits on the red sofa now, clicking through Netflix options. I'm pondering my luck with her artistic pose. My poetic style, it doesn't fit. I've never wrote. Glancing at her tattoos and her skin makes sense. "Everything that has to do with a baby, it's a reflex," she says. How can I not? She's now reading a textbook. I should have listened to more NPR, maybe not. She holds her fingers to her lips while she reads. Now, I definitely should have listened to more NPR. But, I didn't. And as she sprawls out on my red couch in comfort I know, again, that I love her. Cliché? Yes, but **** it. It's newfound love.
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Jan 16, 2016
Jan 16, 2016 at 11:56 PM UTC
What it Feels Like to Love, Now
George Saunders is a better writer than I could ever be, Such an incisive observer of the modern condition, So witty and urbane, A satirist with staying power. Everybody loves a writer who’s legit funny. It’s the Cinnamon and sugar in the oatmeal of reading. George Saunders is smarter than me. Dude is a bona fide scientist Who earned a degree of geophysical engineering From one of the STEMiest of STEM schools. I was an English Major, and even English Major nerd god Garrison Keillor rags on us as likely to someday ask If you’d like fries with that. George Saunders has lived a more adventurous life than me. He was an engineer who worked on pipelines in Sumatra And regales NPR types with his tales about venturing Headlong into a monkey shit-contaminated river. He’s thatched roofs, pulled knuckles at a slaughterhouse, Rang up purchases at a 7-Eleven. Saunders proposed to his wife after three weeks. George Saunders is more distinguished than me. His list of awards is endless. Guggenheims, MacArthur genius grants, PEN/Malamud Awards, A gaggle of National Magazine Awards, The ********* Lannan Foundation. Everyone has honored the guy. I've got a bronze pig and some plaques. George Saunders is more beloved than I am. He addresses graduating classes all over the country. Everyone man, woman and child has read “Sea Oak.” Every man, woman and child loves “Sea Oak.” It’s taught in every college in the country. It’s about as perfect as a short story can get. Realistically, I’ll never be as good a writer as George Saunders, Yet the brilliance he pours forth into the world Inspires me to write.
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Jun 8, 2017
Jun 8, 2017 at 2:41 AM UTC
George Saunders
George Saunders is a better writer than I could ever be, Such an incisive observer of the modern condition, So witty and urbane, A satirist with staying power. Everybody loves a writer who’s legit funny. It’s the Cinnamon and sugar in the oatmeal of reading. George Saunders is smarter than me. Dude is a bona fide scientist Who earned a degree of geophysical engineering From one of the STEMiest of STEM schools. I was an English Major, and even English Major nerd god Garrison Keillor rags on us as likely to someday ask If you’d like fries with that. George Saunders has lived a more adventurous life than me. He was an engineer who worked on pipelines in Sumatra And regales NPR types with his tales about venturing Headlong into a monkey shit-contaminated river. He’s thatched roofs, pulled knuckles at a slaughterhouse, Rang up purchases at a 7-Eleven. Saunders proposed to his wife after three weeks. George Saunders is more distinguished than me. His list of awards is endless. Guggenheims, MacArthur genius grants, PEN/Malamud Awards, A gaggle of National Magazine Awards, The ********* Lannan Foundation. Everyone has honored the guy. I've got a bronze pig and some plaques. George Saunders is more beloved than I am. He addresses graduating classes all over the country. Everyone man, woman and child has read “Sea Oak.” Every man, woman and child loves “Sea Oak.” It’s taught in every college in the country. It’s about as perfect as a short story can get. Realistically, I’ll never be as good a writer as George Saunders, Yet the brilliance he pours forth into the world Inspires me to write.
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The days you weren't sick were called holidays. We packed your things, and moved to the living room. Play scrabble on the love seats, and jut our jaws out to the long lettered words, Put them back in place, only a little more droopy when they sounded sad. On the days you weren't sick, We had celebratory radio talk shows talking holy through the cracks in our house. When they told us about war, we turned the station. Stayed silent in our own bomb shelter, Stayed unaware, yet somehow experienced. On the days your bones mimicked the floorboards in the ways they bent and chipped and creaked, we packed your things and moved to the bedroom, the one your mother slept in as a child, the one our linens grew over to forget the trace of hers. Your knuckles, neatly overlapping the curvature between your fingers, Your eyes closed and breath inhaled. I would count your heartbeats the same way I would count the declining degrees of your temperature: Each one to be acknowledged, each one to be thanked, each one more than the one before. The day you got really sick, we did nothing and you sat by the window singing church songs. Mostly just whistles of oxygen escaping your lungs to let me know you were still there. You existed only in that spot for a week until we packed your things And moved to the hospital floor for people like you. On the day the nurse brought me flowers and apology letters, I played scrabble in the living room, Kept the radio on loud. I remembered the ways you ached And how long you had to stay that way before we got comfortable with the long words and the war stories and finally compared them to our own.
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Feb 23, 2015
Feb 23, 2015 at 7:23 PM UTC
NPR company for a cancer patient
The days you weren't sick were called holidays. We packed your things, and moved to the living room. Play scrabble on the love seats, and jut our jaws out to the long lettered words, Put them back in place, only a little more droopy when they sounded sad. On the days you weren't sick, We had celebratory radio talk shows talking holy through the cracks in our house. When they told us about war, we turned the station. Stayed silent in our own bomb shelter, Stayed unaware, yet somehow experienced. On the days your bones mimicked the floorboards in the ways they bent and chipped and creaked, we packed your things and moved to the bedroom, the one your mother slept in as a child, the one our linens grew over to forget the trace of hers. Your knuckles, neatly overlapping the curvature between your fingers, Your eyes closed and breath inhaled. I would count your heartbeats the same way I would count the declining degrees of your temperature: Each one to be acknowledged, each one to be thanked, each one more than the one before. The day you got really sick, we did nothing and you sat by the window singing church songs. Mostly just whistles of oxygen escaping your lungs to let me know you were still there. You existed only in that spot for a week until we packed your things And moved to the hospital floor for people like you. On the day the nurse brought me flowers and apology letters, I played scrabble in the living room, Kept the radio on loud. I remembered the ways you ached And how long you had to stay that way before we got comfortable with the long words and the war stories and finally compared them to our own.
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Lawrence Hall, HSG [email protected]              Never Mind the Guns and the Fentanyl; Seize the Books           By 1938, the Nazis had banned eighteen categories of books,           4,175 titles, and the complete works of 565 authors…                  -Molly Guptill Manning, When Books Went to War Ideologues search libraries for ***** books Because reading might give people ideas And encourage them to think for themselves Tyrants are threatened by words and ideas Censors search Mary Poppins for ***** words Because a wide vocabulary might give people ideas And encourage them to think for themselves Tyrants are threatened by words and ideas In an era when even mere literacy is suspicious Tyrants are threatened by words and ideas How conservative and liberal book bans differ amid rise in literary restrictions - ABC News (go.com) The Spread of Book Banning - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Film censors aren’t protecting children from Mary Poppins – they’re protecting themselves (yahoo.com) States Tell SCOTUS That Social Media Censors Conservatives : The NPR Politics Podcast : NPR List of banned films - Wikipedia https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/12/22/police-officer-searches-middle-school-library-after-complaint-about-concerning-illustrations-in-lgbtq-book/ Someone is cutting down free little libraries in a Chicago suburb and police are searching for the suspect (msn.com) Over 170 books banned from Florida school libraries following new education reform - CBS News The police officer who searched for a book in a Great Barrington classroom also used a body camera. The ACLU has ‘deep concerns’ | South Berkshires | berkshireeagle.com
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Feb 27, 2024
Feb 27, 2024 at 9:23 PM UTC
Never Mind the Guns and the Fentanyl; Seize the Books
Lawrence Hall, HSG [email protected]              Never Mind the Guns and the Fentanyl; Seize the Books           By 1938, the Nazis had banned eighteen categories of books,           4,175 titles, and the complete works of 565 authors…                  -Molly Guptill Manning, When Books Went to War Ideologues search libraries for ***** books Because reading might give people ideas And encourage them to think for themselves Tyrants are threatened by words and ideas Censors search Mary Poppins for ***** words Because a wide vocabulary might give people ideas And encourage them to think for themselves Tyrants are threatened by words and ideas In an era when even mere literacy is suspicious Tyrants are threatened by words and ideas How conservative and liberal book bans differ amid rise in literary restrictions - ABC News (go.com) The Spread of Book Banning - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Film censors aren’t protecting children from Mary Poppins – they’re protecting themselves (yahoo.com) States Tell SCOTUS That Social Media Censors Conservatives : The NPR Politics Podcast : NPR List of banned films - Wikipedia https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/12/22/police-officer-searches-middle-school-library-after-complaint-about-concerning-illustrations-in-lgbtq-book/ Someone is cutting down free little libraries in a Chicago suburb and police are searching for the suspect (msn.com) Over 170 books banned from Florida school libraries following new education reform - CBS News The police officer who searched for a book in a Great Barrington classroom also used a body camera. The ACLU has ‘deep concerns’ | South Berkshires | berkshireeagle.com
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