here's my stab at a love poem for this week's session:

go marching two by two, hurrah

in tenth grade I marched, manacled
in construction paper, to the Chinese embassy,
stood in the swelling snow and shouted Free Tibet!
until my feet turned numb because I liked a boy
and that was his Cause. we played witchcraft
together & for his birthday, I bought him handcuffs
tied in purple ribbon. he never caught on.

this saturday I�ll go marching, manacled
in pessimism, to the United Nations,
stand whether in swelling snow or simply
as part of the amoebic Left & shout
Leave Iraq Alone! because our cowboy president
is pied pipering our boys in blue to slaughter, but
principally because the boy I love has asked me to.

Evil keeps a running tally, continues to present
unique spins on itself � equally inexhaustible,
if not as creative, the Left continues to fight.
poor redundant love will keep us marching
despite our despair. while Evil produces subjects
and the Left counters with rhyme, love
will give us reason to chant. who cares if feet freeze,
if the Chinese embassy stares blankly back,
if the UN is UN-helpful -- TV has tutored me
to expect as much. you continue to delight me.
for the sake of this falling, I will march, I will scream
Make Love Not War! & mean it.

i've been subsisting on bread and soup, supplemented by crackers and liberal doses of promethazine. why am i still ill? i thought this damn thing was supposed to clear up over the summer. oh well. excitingly, the oscar nominations come out tomorrow. so far this february hasn't been bad at all.