New posts are below this introduction

The poetry and other works on this page are licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

In many cases the work presented here may be an early draft that has been modified or changed. To obtain a reproducible copy that has the proper attribution included contact the author of the web site by emailing HLBumpkin@yahoo.com.

Thanks

Looking for

My Paris Poetry? Click Here

Faith from the Beginning

The piece below is part of an audio presentation that grew from a cinquain-T that was published on Poets Against the War and listed as a "Poem of the Week (Dec 18)" and on Grass & Gravel Times (Dec 20)

Our Father Which Art In Heaven

This species believes
   It was created in a divine image
   Not from apes descended
   Does not evolution conceive
   As the story of its beginnings
   Where survival of the fittest 
Carries forward the past

It could be true
   They have a culture test
   That requires the young and strong
   To kill each other 
   For honor and glory
   To please the old and dead
   Condemning the love of their mothers
To prove that God is the father

In duh beginning

Gravy Train They Call New Orleans

“Brownie, you’re doing a heckova job.”

a quote of a misinformed citizen


Scientists have measured the gulf stream
“30% less heat going north”
It sounds like an Ice Age warning
In amongst global warming talks
My guess: “War is great” propaganda
Black is white confusion
Sent out to confound the critics
“God is good” religious pomposity
Decorating Joshua’s horns
Emperors take personally
When the facts twist in an ocean gyre

But no. It is true, and it is good
The re-frozen north will bring in tourism
Canadians will move to the Gulf Coast
New Orleans welcomes Montrealeans
Real estate booming
Magnolias blooming
Euros-for-oil trades on Craig’s List
Moves Washington DC to Texas
A miraculous mutation
An evolution of Intelligent Design
Foreseen in Revelation
“And every island fled away,
and no mountains were to be found.
... see the smoke of her burning.”

Death and fire to the nonbelievers
First it gets warm then we are saved
Which means that “ice is hot”
Bring it on.
I am so glad I got that straight!

Literally
My Dobson was a bit down,
but now I’m fine:
Soaring like a Jet Stream
God fart gone south
Where winter in not hell
and success is a Bush speaking.

It all seems so simple now
Science is green with envy,
and for once on a blue moon
NASA is making weightless space
a place to be.

Be a star
Rise to Vega’s heights
Where winners believe in magic.
Listen to Nobel Pinter say,
“You don't need to think.
Just lie back on the cushion.”
America knows what is good

What’s good for America is right for you.
False is true. Good for you.
WMDs are real
We have them. We use them.
What’s the big deal.
Our carbon is gold
Stored in Mesopotamia
Where the good god Dollar rules
Our sheikdom fools

Don’t question the truth
It is not scientific to assume
The might of right
Just join the fight
and fight and fight and fight
When polar bears die
They never know why!

Too bad you’re dead,
The official spokesman said.

Inspired by:

The Nobel lecture: Art, truth and politics by Harold Pinter

Iraq war debate enters new phase


A self-described conservative, Bacevich argues that Americans have fallen prey to a "military metaphysic." By that he means all international problems are seen as military problems and the likelihood for finding a solution except through military means is discounted.

Polar bears living on thin ice after record temperatures

John Vidal, environment editor
Friday December 16, 2005