Nothing's More Interesting

Mary Ellen Mark
the iconic and prolific photographer

who captured simply
the lives of people
on the margins

for example
in a trek to New York City
in 1967

where over the next several years
she acknowledged
in black and white

the existence of prostitutes
of Vietnam War protesters

of Women's Lib marchers
of transvestites
of the homeless

of those addicted to drugs

and of Times Square

(among other folks and places)

has died at 75.

Portraying one small part of the world
"as it is"

contrary to common sense
is still an art
performed by mere humans

which means that hashtags
like #NoFilter

will never be accurate

and accuracy
is an impossible goal

but to get at anything
resembling something like truth

we need
and will always need
more filters.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Double Rainbows Over Dublin

Congratulations Ireland

for becoming the first country

to make same-sex marriage legal
by way of popular vote

with a final tally

of 37.9 percent No
to 62.1 percent Yes.

Just like the US

(and in other ways not)

Ireland has its unfair share
of stymiers of social progress

but if God proclaims on high

His approval
of referendums passed
in the name of equality

that should convince anyone

except those
who have come around

to liking sun and rain

and appreciating everything
about them as individuals

but still get squicked out
about rainbows.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Adult Acceptance of Transition

Robert Gates
current president
of the Boy Scouts of America

has called for an end
to the long-standing ban

on gay leaders.

When addressing the organization

during its annual meeting
he said

"We must deal
with the world as it is

not as we might wish it to be.

The status quo
in our movement’s membership standards

cannot be sustained."

There's another prominent group

that has taken the hard road
of personal introspection

as they choose to bow
to society's slowly-but-surely-changing
tide of opinion

and even say a sad farewell
to the beloved old guard

in the name
of younger
and fresh-faced leadership

which is
Worldwide Pants Incorporated.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Six Years In

There is little
that "Bey"(once) and "Jay" (Z)
do quietly

but what has been quiet
are the couple's donations

of tens of thousands of dollars
to bail out protesters
arrested in Baltimore

at least according
to the activist "Dream Hampton"

who ghostwrote Jay Z's
2010 memoir "Decoded"

but later deleted
her original tweets
with that claim

due to a twinge
of Twitter regret.

And just as Obama
is now occasionally

tapping into his plentiful
six-year store
of accumulated moxie and chutzpah
and temerity

today he has been granted
a personal Twitter account

under the name "@POTUS"

to deal with that
of his followers.

(Luckily it's only
1.16 million so far.)

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Beale Street Blues Boy

The thrill is gone
but not forgotten.

"I never use
that word
'retire.'"

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Cultural Currency

The lobbying group
Women On 20s

is campaigning for Harriet Tubman
to appear on the twenty-dollar bill.

Not merely someone
who routed hundreds of people
out of legal captivity

during the Civil War
she was a scout
a cook
a nurse and a spy.

Other than the "politically correct"
line of reasoning

that present occupier
of the bill
Andrew Jackson

was kind of a big meanie

given that one of her nicknames
was "Minty"

(short for her birth name Araminta)

one would get to call
a wallet full of twenties
"Minty Fresh".

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

We Would Live 4 U

The deliberately elusive Prince

has kicked off

his one-stop "Rally 4 Peace" tour

at the Royal Farms Arena

in Baltimore

with his new song

aptly titled "Baltimore."

His message is one

that mothers

and fathers

and just humans in general

and probably other species

have tried to rationalize

that "Nobody got in nobody's way
so I guess you could say
it was a good day"

but with the nagging feeling underneath

that "Peace is more

than the absence of war."

Still Fox News

will point out

that the line

"Let's take all

the guns away"

means he's lobbying

for Hillary

and maybe

that's only part of the solution

but then again

they've never claimed

to be part

of the solution. 

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

A Rand-some Price for Freedom

To celebrate the Appeals Court
declaring illegal the NSA's
mass phone data collection program

Rand Paul reminds you

while the government
still has access to The Interwebs
(including The Facebooks)

to head on over
to his online store

and get yourself
an NSA Spy Cam blocker

for $15.00

never minding
that you can get a whole roll
of masking tape

for one-third or less
of the price

while helping your friends
block their computers' and devices' webcams
at the same time.

But to make up for that

you'll have to buy
his thousand-dollar signed copy
of the Constitution.


This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

She Comes Back to Me

If the debris
from Halley's Comet
is visible
in your part of the world

at approximately
nine in the morning
Eastern Daylight Time Wednesday

remember that
an uncaring universe

even at a negative
454 degrees Fahrenheit

is not necessarily
the same
as a "cold" universe

more like a "chill" one
perhaps just waiting for us
to clean up our own trash

and that Eminem's 2002 "Hailie's Song"
was about his daughter

who did not
spawn the comet

though she was proudly crowned
Homecoming Queen
in October 2013.

Dr. Ben Carson
thinks hip-hop is disrespectful
to modern values
of decency and respect

but nonetheless launched
his 2016 presidential campaign
with a gospel choir rendition

of her father's 2003 song
"Lose Yourself."

Barring any definite outside answer

one can only guess
that the universe

has just one message
for us

equal parts terrifying
and hopeful that

"Everything in the universe
that can happen

will happen

(eventually)."


This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

May Poll

(Sung around the May Pole)
(Adapted from old English May Day song "Padstow Hobby Horse")

Unite and unite
(Brian Russell)
and let us all unite
(Skip Andrews)

for poll-summer (Marco Rubio)
is a-coming today
(Ted Cruz)

and whither we are going
(Kerry Bowers)

we all will as-if unite
(Chris Hill)

in the Prez "Barry" scorning
(Michael Petyo) 

of May
(Michael Kinlaw).

The declared candidates
(John Dummett, Jr.)
of the GOP
they might if they would

for poll-summer is a-coming today
(Rand Paul)

they might have (Mark Everson) built a 'paign
with unkept promises

Fox News would call bold

in the Prez "Barry" scorning
of May.

The exploring maidens
(Carly Fiorina)

of the GOP and the men
(Rick Santorum)

they might if they would

for poll-summer
(Bobby Jindal)
is a-coming today
(Lindsey Graham)

they might defend the blue blood
with the stars white
(Rick Perry)
and stripes red 

in the Prez "Barry" scorning
of May
(Dr. Ben Carson).

Now fare you well
(George Pataki)
and we bid you all good cheer
(Dennis Michael Lynch)

for poll-summer (Mike Huckabee)
is a-coming today
(Jeb Bush).

Till you call still more
(Chris Christie)

unto the White House
in another year
(Donald Trump)

in the Prez "Barry" scorning
of May.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Ogden National Treasures

Donald Trump's Spring has sprung

(more than a month late
but whatever)

his renewed desire
to upend Obama has "riz"

and only he thinks
that putting him in charge

is where
the revolutionary change
in America's heart is.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Mis-under-esteemed Colleagues

It's both reasonable and a duty
for American citizens

to keep their presidents in check
when it comes

to how they conduct
their affairs

(well really 
"our" affairs

as he is
one of us)

in far-off lands.

And technically
former President George W. Bush
is an American citizen

so there should be nothing 
ironic or strange
about him being concerned

with Obama causing "chaos"
in the Middle East

and giving him advice.

Nope

he's just doing his duty.

(It probably
just seems weird

because we haven't
heard from him
in a while.)


This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Lead Me On

On day 166

the Loretta Lynch
Attorney General confirmation status

is still no.

Oh wait

the Loretta Lynch
Attorney General confirmation status

has just been updated
to yes.

Forgive us
our incredulity

when documenting
this breakneck speed

of bipartisan decision-making

(with one of the "Yea" votes

being cuddly and lovable
stalwart of change

Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell)

in Congress.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Drill Baby Drill

Even liberal-leaning Millennials

don't universally love

the Buzzfeed-ification

of journalism

but sometimes

we have no other choice

to get our point across.

So this Earth Day

and beyond

Please Don't "D" Over

Our Earth

("D" standing for "Drill"

obviously

for what else

could it possibly mean?)

or we'll be left

with a "Dearth"

and that's pretty bad

right?

Now weep as you imagine

these 25 endangered habitats

covered in avocado

and/or Nutella.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

One Toke Over the Line

There's some sad news

for any environmentally-conscious potheads

who want to toke the pain away

about California's drought.

The average marijuana plant

uses a whopping six gallons

of water per day

while wine grapes

by comparison

take only 3.3 gallons.

You may also be putting

freshwater salmon and trout

in danger

and since many other animals

feed on these fish

it could affect the entire food chain.

On the bright side

maybe some pothead

with a capitalist streak

can devise a synthetic

gluten-free "Paleo Weed"

based on what cavemen and -women

used to buy

from their friendly underground dealers

before plants were invented.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Little Red Menace

Elmo may be
a red and fuzzy
pint-sized irritation

who refers to himself
in the third person
(or third muppet)

and even gets
his own strange little "World"

but when he's teamed up
with US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy
and the Department of Health and Human Services

after the conclusion
of the California measles outbreak

to tell parents the importance
of getting vaccinated

maybe the kids
should turn up the volume.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Chopped and Skewed

Over the past few years

scientists studying chimpanzees
who live
in the Fongoli region of Senegal

have amassed evidence
revealing that females
are more likely than males

to hunt and skewer their food

(typically adorable-but-less-creepy
fuzzy Furby-like creatures
commonly called "bush babies")

using skewers
made from tree branches

as opposed to their bare hands.

As to how this relates

to Hillary Clinton
making an un-publicized stop
at Chipotle

this remains to be seen

by Fox News's
Science Advisory Board

(and only after
a careful and thorough investigation

with absolutely
no hyperbole

in its presentation
of the facts).


This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Destiny Produces the Man

President Obama
plans to remove Cuba

from the State Department's list
of nations that sponsor terror.

For we shall no longer
base our national policy

on the cautionary tale
provided by The Simpsons

when Homer

(after providing false information
on his taxes
and hoping to stay
out of jail)

Mr. Burns and Smithers

are sent by the FBI
to try to obtain
a trillion-dollar bill

that Mr. Burns
didn't deliver to Europe
after World War II.

Mr. Burns debates
over whether to hand over
a trillion-dollar bill
to Fidel Castro

and Homer says
"Mr. Burns
I think we can trust
the President of Cuba"

who is begged
to give it back

but to the surprise of no one
asks "What bill?"

and the trio
end up taking a raft
back to the US.

And now
Republican Presidential hopeful
Marco Rubio

whose parents fled Cuba
(though well before Castro ruled)

will either have to stop
endorsing the US

in his speeches to Americans

as a concept
his party is willing to defend

(as we were all too willing
to negotiate)

or flee to a country
where political feuds
against perceived enemies never end.

If he were smart

he'd stay here
and try to one-up Hillary
on immigration.

Rumor has it
that in recent years

she's visited more than a handful
of foreign countries

under closely-guarded circumstances

(all endorsed
by the Obama administration).

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

The Carolina Charter

Goodbye North Carolina historian

William Stevens Powell

who died on Friday
at the age of 95.

You wrote more than one hundred
books and articles

chronicling the state
this poet calls home.

So do tell us

whether we can learn
from the past

or are doomed to repeat
Governor Pat McCrory
and Company's
(so to speak)

future?

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

Rand-om Acts of Open-Mindedness

Attention all workers

Rand Paul believes
in the dignity and value of work.

Is this guy
some kind of socialist?

He certainly doesn't think

any oppressive government regulations
should be put in place

that might hinder your ability
to enjoy your dignity.

So nope

not a socialist.

However even with
his more-libertarian positions watered down
to match those of
the elite GOP base

if he's still at all serious
about reducing mass incarceration

and fulfilling his dream
of a world

where "any law that disproportionately incarcerates
people of color
is repealed"

for them

that might be
a crisis of conscience.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.

No Gaytering

Memories Pizza's
baked with nearly a million
in homophobes' bucks

and it's made with love.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.