That awkward moment when you’re arguing with a Trump supporter online about a false dichotomy, and you type “Hillary’s hypothetical guilt does not exonerate Donald.”
And then it gets stuck in your head, because it sounds like the start of the most weird-ass haiku ever.
Are any of you guys seeing what I am seeing with Melania Trump’s new White House Christmas display?
Ace Books.
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
— Gautama Buddha
O, Insomnia!
I thought I’d lost you,
You reappearing keeper of sleeplessness,
You ever awakening angel,
You fickle little midnight affliction …
(Seriously, though, &*#% you.)
Now here is something to be thankful for. My colleagues over at The Bees Are Dead have graciously published my poem, “school shooter.” (This poem last appeared in the Peeking Cat Anthology 2018.) You can find it at the link below.
Thanks, B.A.D. people. 😉
“school shooter” at The Bees Are Dead
Oh, god. Oh, god. This … this is evidently what passed for the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe in 1989. (This is the company’s float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.)
Can I be blamed for not getting into superhero comics until college? When portrayals like this represented the genre to the general public?
Dear God, what have they done to Dr. Doom?? And is that misshapen, dirty aluminum golem supposed to be the Silver Surfer?! And they’re all in a … multi-level mausoleum? A crumbling clock-tower? A haunted castle that inexplicably has a manhole right outside its entrance? Huh? Wha?
Hey, this was nearly two full decades before the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Indeed, it was the very same year as Tim Burton’s “Batman” — and that is actually the first bona fide modern superhero movie that I can think of without googling it. The genre had a long way to go.
Hey … the Spider-man balloon was pretty cool.
I hope that you and all you love enjoy a safe and happy holiday.
