Page 35 - the NOISE November 2012

Mentor, friend, father, teacher, poet.
Christopher Ya’ir Lane —
I am embodying you
In everything
I do.
Your 1am car ride stories when everyone is asleep and we miss our exits.
It was all so tragic but you still laughed.
Now
I am living your stories Unintentionally
and miss my exits everytime.
— Claire Pearson
You knew so much about mortality, But I don’t remember the last words I ever spoke to you
You didn’t give us any warning.
I thought last words were memorable.
You knew so much about mortality,
Fatherless child
You shook hand from the Grim Reaper
He read you bedtime stories when you were little. Now your children know him too.
But Mr. Reaper was always a little afraid of you, He snuck up from behind,
Played dirty,
Didn’t follow the rules.
You knew so much about mortality
But you spit fire at fear over microphones
Echoes through every rural town in the Southwest. Your words, fire, la puesta de sol,
In red rocks,
And skys that weep,
For every poem,
You never wrote.
You knew so much about mortality, You, poet, immortal.
— Mackinzi Taylor
THE PENDULUM
Young and the brave travelled south in the summer of 64 The SNCC organized volunteers for that ride
To regain voting rights that had been swindled away Presumed fait accompli by the blue and the gray
It was Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner that died
It was in 68 when it swung to the right Nixon, Wallace, and Agnew
Set black against white
And then they listened at Watergate We knew that wasn’t right
Then in 76 when it swang to the left Jimmy pardoned the resistors
For not wanting to kill
Then we bailed out Chrysler
And we’re bailing them out still
But in 1980 Reagan’s acting was just right While he broke up the unions
And the budget deficit did soar
He increased our taxes
But we still roared “four more”
Though Bush ‘I’ knew it was right
That Saddam could remain
To Bush ‘II’ that was trite
With 911 and WMDs now his feign
Through the war on terror he made Iraq our fight
Then in 2008 McCain and Palin got mean
And used Joe the Plumber to drain common sense But Obama roared back and played clean
So we cried at the swearing in scene
But then the ‘party of no’ would vote as a fence
Once again the ‘right’ is blocking the vote
Claiming that fraudulent voters are destroying democracy Health care and social security are their bane
Certainly Gay marriage and women’s rights can’t be sane Yet Obama is a sage to help turn the page—of plutocracy
— TDD
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news
• NOVEMBER 2012 • 35