Anti-Bush incantations three and four belong to the passionate Alix Olson, who jumps in with a poem called "To the Republic" about the Civil War. Less dead-on than the Ferlinghetti, but a good poem and good reading. Lines to remember:
"Dirt had bleached the blue and grey one color."
"...We now ruin the great work of time."
***
The fourth incantation is a poem about Wal-Mart ("for" Wal-Mart, according to Olson). This one doesn't quite work, for me at least. Olson's energy is through the roof and her recital top-notch - her hands cut the air and dart to punctuate laugh-lines - but the poem itself is, at times, silly to the point of embarrassment.
"Attention shoppers," it begins, using the trope of a Wal-Mart PA-system announcement to let the world know that "global perspective is 99% off" and "all ethics must go;" that Nike's bought the Revolution and all the talented actors are in Cats.
(That last one threw me. I mean, I laughed, but is the idea that the talented follow the money and end up with hack Broadway jobs? Because Cats just makes me think of men in funny cat outfits, prancing - which image isn't exactly socio-economically inclining, meditations-wise.)
Towards the end of the poem, it missteps by referencing a website called "www.fuckallofit." Can anyone see the problem here? There's no domain specified, lol. This website could be .net, .tv, .co.ck, or .del.icio.us.
One of the perennial writerly complaints against spoken-word poetry is its imprecision, something from which this series of anti-Wal-Mart couplets suffers. As a web geek and progressive feminist self-hating white dude, I resent the notion (expounded upon briefly here) that the Web is somehow part of the axis of white/male global dominance.
Its origins (in the startling transformation of a military database into a tool for linking university research material), current do-gooder custodian (Google), and recent history (helping Dean gather support from young progressives; helping Obama or Edwards take the White House in 08) aside, the Web should serve everyone, not just rich white men. The flip side of that statement is that everyone will have to learn about the Web in order to be served.
So, all I'm sayin' is, remember the domain.
***
At this point, people are laughing, feeling good. (Perhaps antsy to see something "meaty?" Or is this just me?)
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