Mirages of Peace

Undoubtedly there are always people
who see Jesus' face
in the mashed potatoes

but soon Pope Francis
will be seen in Turkey

where he has been invited
by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Bartholomew I

to celebrate the feast of St. Andrew.

While there
the Pope will be tackling

(with his bare hands
and in full holy battle regalia)

the issue
of strained Christian-Muslim relations

as the 99 percent Islamic country
awaits an acknowledgement
of their persecution

along with Iraqi and Syrian Christians
who have fled ISIS
in their home countries

and are living as refugees.

As if dialogue 
could do anything
that a well-placed drone couldn't

he commented
on his perseverance.

“I never count anything
as lost. Never. 

Never close the door."

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Give Them Nothing To Talk About

GQ Magazine
has ranked
the outgoing Texas Governor Rick Perry

number 13
on their "30 Least Influential
People of 2014".

Though the author
told readers
of the unweighted list

"you'll probably assume
we ranked them anyway"

Obama nonetheless came in
at number 2

after "Bono and U2"
and their
"$100 million marketing campaign"
with Apple

to forcefully put their 
initially non-removable new album
of "socially-conscious dad rock"

Songs of Innocence

on every iOS 8-updated phone

including the new iPhone 6
and iPhone 6 Plus.

Maybe that non-noteworthy
"clickbait-y" article
in the entertainment section

of a men's lifestyle magazine
has a point.

Obama could probably
be even more less-influential

if he passed more-than-fewer-the-number
of executive orders
that any president has passed
in over 100 years.

Would the rate
of Republicans in Congress
complaining that Obama is simultaneously

taking not enough action
and taking too much
remain the same?

More or less.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

A Doom of One's Own

A five-part series
in the medical journal
The Lancet

has come to the conclusion
that violence against women

is a "global public health
and clinical problem

of epidemic proportions."

The study found
that the key driver of violence

(kind of ironically
as women can't drive)

in low-
or-middle-income countries

is gender inequality

and that
although spreading awareness

was one important first step

nations must also
make it a priority
to allocate resources for victims

change discriminatory structures
and policies

promote support for survivors

strengthen health and education sectors
that both respond to
and prevent violence

and invest in more research

for finding solutions
to gender inequality.

But next to each of these proposals
was an asterisk
pointing to a footnote

which read
"As an alternative solution
for nations that cannot
implement these steps

this publication recommends

asking women

'Why did you let yourselves
get so oppressed
in the first place?'"

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Deep Space Nein

Organic molecules
containing carbon

have been detected
on the Comet 67P
or "Churyumov-Gerasimenko"

by the European Space Agency's
robotic lander Philae

about a week
after it landed
on the comet's nucleus.

Meanwhile Senate Democrats
in the US

blocked by one vote
a bill that would have approved

the construction
of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Obama said he'd approve it
only if it didn't
harm the environment.

But the GOP

(and some very brave
Democrat outliers)

were only trying 
to make Earth
so inhospitable

we'd be forced
to explore space.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Memory Foam Blocs

On Saturday
at the G20 Summit

Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper got fresh

with Russian President Vladimir Putin
when he said

"I guess
I'll shake your hand

but I have only
one thing
to say to you"

which was

'You need
to get out of Ukraine.'"

To that bit
of backhanded diplomacy

(well to be fair
he did endure hours
of mental torture

by constantly having to choose
in the moment

just which non-answer was appropriate
for that particular question

such as lying by omission

phrasing nominally true occurrences
in the form
of self-serving moral positives

or the simple but effective
deflective platitude
to the audience)

Putin spoke
of a "need to sleep"

and took an early flight home.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

The Party Ain't Over

Just a friendly reminder

that the protests happening
on the first day of the G20 Summit

in Brisbane Australia

have nothing to do
with folks fed up
with 50 Cent and friends

trying to re-kindle
their respective rap careers

as a more precise measurement
of G-Units

but rather those 
sorts of people

who see a gathering
of the world's largest advanced
and emerging economies

and decide
it'd be a great idea
to crash the party.

(They're probably just jealous.)

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Soldier for a Thousand Years

Should such a day come
where we "study war no more"
may we not forget

the Universal Soldier
who is "five foot two"
and "six feet four"

"all of thirty-one"
and "only seventeen"

and "a Catholic a Hindu
an atheist a Jain
a Buddhist and a Baptist
and a Jew"

or the Unknown Soldier
the Union soldier
the Confederate soldier

the soldiers
of all foreign wars

all ranks
all spouses and partners

those in families
who live to serve

and those who serve to live.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Don’t Come Home A-ppointin'

Yesterday the White House
announced Obama's intent

to nominate U.S. Attorney
Loretta Lynch

for the position of
Attorney General of the United States.

She comes with a recommendation
from New York Mayor
Bill de Blasio

that "the nation is about to meet
Loretta Lynch for the first time

but in the five boroughs
she is already known

for her character
toughness and uncompromising

sense of justice."

Were she nominated
by the Senate

she would be
the first black woman
to hold the position

with an impressive track record
of prosecutions
including those of

the police officers
who assaulted Haitian immigrant
Abner Louima

the Republican Represenative Michael Grimm
from Staten Island

who was accused of hiding
more than $1 million
of his restaurant's sales and wages

such corrupt politicians like
New York State Senate Majority Leader
Pedro Espada Junior

who embezzeled more than $400,000
from his nonprofit
Soundview Health Center

money that was meant
to "purchase medical equipment
and hire personnel

to enhance health care services
for an underserved population"

and Vincent Asaro
a reputed mobster
who stole $6 million

from the Lufthansa Airlines vault
at John F. Kennedy International Airport
(as dramatized
in the movie Goodfellas).

Sounds like a solid choice
for this newly reddened Senate

flush with energy
and determination

to get to work
making lots more

of these solid decisions
in rapid succession

now that Democrats
are out of their way
and won't distract them.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Move in Our Direction

After the midterms

House and Senate Republicans
turn dreamily to the American people
and ask

"Was that good
for you too?"

And Republican Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

do you mean
what you say

that "tonight"
we "begin the race

to turn this country around
to restore hope
and confidence and optimism

to this commonwealth
and across this nation"

or is that merely
a sweet little lie

one says
in the post-election afterglow?

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Safety Net for The "Also Unemployed"

Mitt Romney

(sounds vaguely familiar
but from where?)

today said on Fox News
that Congress
would quickly pass

a conservative version
of immigration reform

if Republicans took both houses
this Tuesday.

"You're going to see a bill
actually reach the desk 
of the president

if we finally have someone
besides Harry Reid
sitting in the Senate."

Let it be said firstly
that the Senate

passed a sweeping and bipartisan
immigration bill in 2013

but the GOP-controlled House
refused to act on it

and secondly

while assuming
he must have passed the test

required of all
Fox News pundits and guests

(ripping up any advanced
Journalism degrees

and adding them to a heady mix
of that week's Democrat-proposed bills

MSNBC news clips
on good all-American
so-called "obsolete" Betamax

and photos of "happy"
Obamacare beneficiaries

which Headmistress Ann Coulter
then lights on fire

and shoots at
with a 50-caliber BMG rifle)

just who is that?

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Like to Buy the Koch a World

Rumor has it

if you stop by the Koch mansion
in Wichita Kansas tonight

Charles and David themselves

(through many protective layers

of a highly advanced
and proprietary "working class repellent"

made from a composite
of natural and synthetic materials
from their massive subsidiaries

including plastics and petroleum
and asphalt
and chemicals

and energy and fibers
and minerals

and fertilizers
which is the "natural" part)

will tell you
some of the best stories
about the ghosts
of American democracy.

But you'll have to stop by
the Sedgwick County
Democratic Party Headquarters

if you want any candy.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Mandatory Quran-tine

Whoops

looks like Bill Maher

is keeping it too "Real"
this "Time"
for students of UC Berkeley

who don't want him giving
the December commencement address

due to comments
on an October 3rd show

in which he
spoke against religion in general
and Islam in particular

saying "the Muslim world
has too much in common with Isis"

and that the "values"
of "Western Civilization"
"are better."

The students' Change.org petition
has collected more than
2,800 signatures

from irate Muslims
and non-Muslims.

Religions are not inherently
violent or peaceful

but powerful vehicles through which people
filter their own consciences

and those with power
can and do justify oppressive acts

(which Maher should know
since he said it himself).

Irreverent reality-based satirists
(such as this poet
except when breaking
into fanciful song)

attempt to skewer
the abuse of power
in America

(and yes
around the world)

with the imprecise tool of humor
and a tool it is

but one doesn't make allies
of the Others

in a country
where the Other

must pass airport security checks
(which he has
voiced his approval of)

ask to be humanized
and then finally apologize

to the "us"
in "us and them"

when as Americans
they seek to be included
in an American conversation.

Surely a person
who once said

"Curious people
are interesting people"

and who prides himself
on bullshit detection
can see through his own

(though one shouldn't
make unfair generalizations).

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Let the Sun Shine In

Today at 6:41 PM
Eastern Daylight Time

Active Region 2192
on the surface of the Sun

erupted with another
X-Class flare
directed towards Earth.

Registering at level X1

it was weaker than
Friday's X3 flare.

Blackouts were reported

but there were no
coronal mass ejections

(or CMEs
for those in the know).

However Fox News
is now on alert

with their ongoing coverage
under the aforementioned

(and very subtle
as is their way)

"Blackout" name

as they believe Obama
is making a last-ditch effort
to usher in the Age of Aquarius

and bypassing Congress
to get it.

They are wrong

but kudos to them
for the suggestion

as such a plan would likely
be more effective.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Never Monkey with the Truth

Ben Bradlee

the Washington Post editor
who resided over the paper's
reporting on Watergate

which led to the retirement
of the sitting president
Richard M. Nixon

showed the country
that "news" is one of the good
four-letter words

and "journalism"
one of the vital "-isms"

in a world plagued
by so many bad ones.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.

Terms for the Surrender

On this day
in 1781
British General Cornwallis

surrenders at Yorktown Virginia

marking the end
of the Revolutionary War.

On this day in 1870

the first four African-Americans
are elected
to the House of Representatives.

(Took them long enough.)

On this day in 1960

MLK is arrested
in an Atlanta sit-in.

(Only because they knew
it was putting
his health at risk.)

In 1987

the Dow Jones
goes down 508.32 points

four-and-a-half times worse
than the drop in points

that marked the beginning
of the Great Depression
in 1929.

In 2003
Communist Mother Teresa is beatified

by Pope John Paul II.

Two years later
Saddam Hussein

(how else
to explain the delay?)

is put on trial
for crimes against humanity.

Famous birthdays include
South Park creator
Trey Parker

and former
Republican National Committee Chairman
Michael Steele

who showed his true colors
when he became a political analyst

on MSNBC.

There are no
conspiracy theories here
only facts

and Obama has 823 days
(with digits adding up
to the number 13)
left in office

and 12 days
till Halloween

which is plenty of time
for him to finish his spell

and let these disparate facts
(2,097 days in the making)
speak for themselves.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.