Hallowe'ening

So, our contest is done and now we're back on a schnide of new poems. Usually it's a small vacation for us at the office when the contest results are running, but this time it didn't feel like it, at least not for me. These last three weeks have flown by and sure we've stocked up one some poems (so, watch out, when we have surplus we get real picky; and it's been happening more and more; in the early days, we all gathered around the computer waiting for something anything to come into our inboxes; we clicked everything open; which is why it took three years to clear all the viruses off our computers; now if I could just do something about these mouth sores; I hear there's an all-natural cure for herpes; anyone out there know it?) Now we're into the main holiday stretch of the year, and Halloween, the first of these, is my favorite. We've had some excellent 'alloween poems over the years (check out the four classics on the bottom of the home page). We're waiting to get some new ones now. We have one or two that are pretty good. I better write one. You got any?

RIP, Nipsey

Comedian, actor, POET Nipsey Russell died this Sunday at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. He was 80 and lived in Manhattan (damn, if we knew he was nearby we would have invited him to our readings! damn!). Russell is one of several celebs from the '60s-'70s era of TV who passed away recently (I suspect government conspiracy, or a new reality show by Mark Burnett), and his passing in particular marks another loss in terms of class and classic and smart humor. Russell brought poetry to the masses. No doubt he will never get props from the likes of highbrows such as John Ashbery or Rita Dove or Sharon Olds, but his poetry reached more people and entertained more people than all of them put together.

When we started our site, we linked to Nipsey Russell's Funky Palace, and we've always lamented the fact that the site (which may be his official site--who knows?? there is no nipseyrussell.com) featured very few Russell poems. But fortunately some of his obits have included some of the master's chestnuts:

"Before we lose our autonomy
And our economy crumbles into dust
We should attack Japan, lose the war
And let Japan take care of us."

Another:
"The opposite of pro is con
That fact is clearly seen
If progress means move forward
Then what does Congress mean"

In 1993 Russell told the Los Angeles Times that writing poems ''is very simple to do.... I start with the joke line and write backward.''

On that note, I've tried a meager eulogy:
Nipsey Russell is dead and gone
he's rhymed for the last time
but we will always give you props
you are a god of asinine