[Erik Olson]

If he deserves the claim of not boring, however dubious, it is only because the indignation, concern and puzzlement he occasions prevents a total stolid boredom. I am not bored because the worst of reasons. I am less than thrilled that his circus forces my attention, whether I will or no; nor am I much pleased at his turning the presidential race into a bad episode of the Apprentice. I grant you though there will always be somebody in a crowd who's bored, however outrageous or diverting, good or ill the show before them.
-Erik

[RCL]

Head Lines

A ball bounced off my head when I was ten
and football helmets scrambled brains again
every fall for eight more playing years.
Some days, my words are tortured, rambling slurs,
but today I’m feeling proud as hell:
my brains are like a player’s in the NFL.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/...gt5?li=BBgzzfc

[RCL]

Eric,

Thanks for the comment and link.

[Erik Olson]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...e-sport-deadly
I found this article about the most extreme sport practitioners in the world: Squirrel-Suit/Base-Jump Divers. The subtitle captures the drift of it: "A succession of high-profile fatal jumps has focused attention on one of the most extreme pursuits going."

This got me thinking how far removed I am from their sportive disposition, having not once even para-sailed, hang-glided, rock-climbed, or bungee-jumped. I imagined this illegal and dangerous base-jumping however must be the zenith of the active life. So I wrote about this and the opposite folly, the sedentary life gone wild.

The Extreme Sportive Man; The Extreme Shut-in (and the dangers of both)

Leaping off cliffs, these live so much
They die young falling for the rush;
Yet there are some at twice the age,
Who never flew beyond their cage.


-Erik

[Ann Drysdale]

Erik - I know I'm an interfering old biddy so do feel free to ignore this, but I feel you're missing a trick here.

The link between the two is not so much sport itself as the desire to simulate flight - the more-than human freedom it implies, as you suggest in the last line.

However, since you've only got four lines to pursue two lines of thought, it seems a pity to complicate the last of them with a twist of syntax. What do you think about introducing the other f-word at that point: "Who never flew beyond their cage"?

[Erik Olson]

Fair enough Ann. Maybe this is more to the theme.


Some spurn inaction, itch to fly,
Jumping off cliffs to live, some die.
Some glacier-still, get twice the age,
Who never flew beyond their cage.

[RCL]

A version is now on New Verse News

http://newversenews.blogspot.com/201...xt-debate.html

[RCL]

The Polls

Carson leaks a muted fart;
Trump’s is like a trumpet blast:
This duet is off the chart;
The lower ranks are rankly gassed.

[RCL]

Terrific!
Recent Time Magazine story

Oh, say can you see,
Trump’s University
A scam that has failed
And now is derailed.
The RICO predicates
Might beat his bets.

[Brian Allgar]

George W. Bush distanced himself from his father’s criticisms, calling Cheney and Rumsfeld assets to his administration.

Said Dubya, “Well, heck, I ain’t brainy;
I can’t tell a Kurd from Khameini.
But it’s easy to score,
Making money from war,
With advisers like Rumsfeld and Cheney.”

Ben Carson: “It is important to remember that amateurs built the Ark and it was the professionals that built the Titanic.”

Although it is true that old Noah,
An amateur builder, was slower
To finish his boat,
Yet the Ark stayed afloat -
The Designer could not have been pro-er.

National “Love Your Lawyer” Day

Sixty lawyers deep-sixed? Well, take heart;
The trial was state-of the-art.
“We find”, said the jury
With sorrow and fury,
“Too few, but at least it’s a start.”

Saxophone Day

The bimbo was learning the sax,
And her teacher had said “Just relax,
Purse your lips, and then blow”,
So she did it. “Like so?”
The lesson had gone off the tracks.