N E W S p o e m

2 March 1999
William Gillespie

here's ed with the <5letter news 

here is ed with the news. ed is glad to be here with the news. ed tells the story you want to know: what the news is now. here he goes:

ed: in new york a guy got shot 19 time. it was sad. he had no gun. he did not talk. he was by his door. he went for his key. the cops wore no I.D. they wore no blue, no club, no hat. they did not look like the cops. they shot him a lot. he had no gun, he was at home, he was not the one they went to look for, he is dead.

also a guy got beat up bad by cops in new york. he was a guy who was made into a girl. she got real sick, real bad. his mom rang 911. the cops came. they saw that she was once a guy, and they beat the shit outa her. and her mom. and all. the cops went nuts. they were pure hate and fear. they hate sex and the rest of us.

but what if a bomb fell on iraq, then the U.S. did weep 9999 tears. and if and if in L.A. a girl was hurt, then we stop our cars and get out and cry and hug. we even hug them we don't know. we are so sad that we don't work that week. we park our cars on the side of the road and walk and talk to whom we meet. we want to make it stop if it will hurt a kid. any kid. we do not want it to hurt. so we make it stop, and we look at it, and we look at its bits. we do not want it if it will hurt any folk.

and what if, in the U.S.: a kid fell off a step and the town is sad. the kid hurt his knee and the town did not work but took a walk in the park. the kid is okay. he is a hero now. he is a man now, a king. he is the only one who got hurt in ten year. it is very safe in the U.S. kids live long and don't grow up too fast. like me. my name is ed.

i like to talk with words with four or less... bits.

and in my home town, it is good. joe and 't'any made good food and i ate some and went to hear lame rock at a bar with nice folk. it is all good. i like many a tiny word. let me tell you.

and now here is a song:

i want to sing a song
it will not be too long
it will have tiny word a word a word
will they kill me or will they?
why am i a pain?
why does it hurt me so?
why is it an ouch?
why is it a nose? who is it that will kiss me?
is it the one? is it the one?
why is it that the word
and the next word and the next
do not add up too fast
not fast at all
why is that?
tell me or i am lost.
i am not a god, nor a man.
i am not done, but i will be soon.
why does it bug me so?
what can i do to make it go away?
can i make the word and the next one
come more fast?
can i?
why am i so slow?
why do i try to write when i can't?
am i a nut?
am i a spaz?

is
it
too
late?
for me?
for this?
am i gone?
am i gone now?
is it over?