Never Mind the Guns and the Drugs; Seize the Books - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Never Mind the Guns and the Drugs; Seize the Books

 

By 1938, the Nazis had banned eighteen categories of books,

4,175 titles, and the complete works of 565 authors…

 

-Molly Guptill Manning, When Books Went to War

 

Ideologues search libraries for dirty books

Because reading might give people ideas

And encourage them to think for themselves

Tyrants are threatened by words and ideas

 

Censors search Mary Poppins for dirty words

Because a wide vocabulary might give people ideas

And encourage them to think for themselves

Tyrants are threatened by words and ideas

 

In an era when even mere literacy is suspicious

Tyrants are threatened by words and ideas

 

 

How conservative and liberal book bans differ amid rise in literary restrictions - ABC News (go.com)

 

The Spread of Book Banning - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

 

Film censors aren’t protecting children from Mary Poppins – they’re protecting themselves (yahoo.com)

 

States Tell SCOTUS That Social Media Censors Conservatives : The NPR Politics Podcast : NPR

 

List of banned films - Wikipedia

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/12/22/police-officer-searches-middle-school-library-after-complaint-about-concerning-illustrations-in-lgbtq-book/

 

Someone is cutting down free little libraries in a Chicago suburb and police are searching for the suspect (msn.com)

 

Over 170 books banned from Florida school libraries following new education reform - CBS News

 

The police officer who searched for a book in a Great Barrington classroom also used a body camera. The ACLU has ‘deep concerns’ | South Berkshires | berkshireeagle.com

What We All Need to Know About Fentanyl - a re-post

I almost never re-post but in the matter of children's lives this is important. The source is at the foot of the page:

Here’s what children need to know:

1. There is a poison killing 200 Americans of all ages, backgrounds, and races every single day. It’s called fentanyl. Most kids who die from it don’t even know they are taking it.

2. Drug dealers are selling fake pills, cocaine, and meth with fentanyl to boost their profits.

3. These fake pills look identical to the real ones—Xanax, Adderall, Oxycontin, Percocet, and others. You cannot see, smell, or taste fentanyl. Even DEA agents can’t tell the difference between what’s real and fake.

4. Do not accept any pill of any kind if it didn’t come from a doctor or pharmacist. Even if your best friend offers you a pill, they won’t know if it contains fentanyl.

In the age of fentanyl, your life will become a coin toss. Heads, you get high. Tails, you die. The only way to win this twisted game is to refuse to play.

James Fishback is a writer for The Free Press. Follow him on Twitter @j_fishback. And read Sam Quinones’ recent piece, “Opioids Decimated a Kentucky Town. Recovering Addicts Are Saving It.”

Broccoli on the Primary Ballot - quatrain

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Broccoli on the Primary Ballot

 

(As President Bush maior did not say)

 

Broccoli, limp broccoli, that’s all I see

Just rotting broccoli all stink, stunk, stank

No real choices today, only broccoli –

The same old broccoli, putrid and rank

The Dime-Store Philosophy of Kahlil Gibran - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

 

The Dime-Store Philosophy of Kahlil Gibran

 

How The Prophet Made Kahlil Gibran a Household Name in America ‹ Literary Hub (lithub.com)

 

The dime-store philosophy of Kahlil Gibran

          (“Daddy, what’s a dime-store? And what’s a dime?”)

Reposing mostly undisturbed on brick-and-board shelves

The free-verse love-salad of Rod McKuen

And Lord of the Rings in 50-cent paperbacks

 

The Seekers played over and over on the phonograph

          (“Daddy, what’s a phonograph? Is it something bad?”)

Have you heard The Mamas and the Papas’ latest single?

Peter, Paul & Mary in “stacks of wax”

Three-chord commandos in every coffee shop

 

Looking back - it wasn’t the greatest stuff

But for the time and place, it was good enough

 

Someone Along County Road 400 & County Dump Extension Has Done a Little Remodeling...

...and it looks nice, especially the blue carpeting. But please have your contractor swing back and pick up the unsecured debris that fell from his open trailer around midday on Saturday, 24 February.

No, I Will Not Watch X - quatrain

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

No, I Will Not Watch X

 

For all the same reasons I repudiate Q

I will not watch X, not even for you

And I regret that you asked me to -

They’re both a Macbethian witches’ brew

Night of the Long Sporks - quatrain

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Night of the Long Sporks

 

Republicans have their sporks out for each other

Slashing each member with unpassable bills

Impeaching each MAGA sister and brother -

The 118th Congress gives me the chills!