I found this on Sister Told Jah . It seems opinion is changing according to a Pew Poll
Sista has a great blog and I have added her to my blogroll!
Tim Kaine showed up in Wise at the yearly RAM held at the fairgrounds. RAM is based in Knoxville and has been coming to Wise for several years. Enter Kaine, to a captive audience-
The Kaine solution
Hey Tim! That huge Tax increase really helped! Just how much of that surplus is headed our way in SWVA? I feel stumping at such an event, after raising taxes on the ones there is in very bad taste. Kaine has been absent in past years, but this year he shows up all concerned. I don't think his tax credit was what the needy wanted to hear!
My friend Brian has a different take on it.
Soon after completing my first book of poetry, Muses like Moonlight, I wrote the following poem. At the time, my intution told me that it marked the start of a new period in my writing.
I began my spoken word reading yesterday at Floyd Fest – on the “Soap Box†under the “Poetree†– with the following poem. After that, I proceeded to read a collection – 5 poems and one short prose piece – in which the word “blue†appeared somewhere in the text of each. I didn’t go as far as to paint myself blue – something my Celtic ancestors did before going into battle – but the girls (a Floyd Fest couple)in the photo did.
I want to steal the word “blueâ€
into every poem I write
the way a Hopi weaves a signature
with a bead outside the pattern
I want to leave a kernel of its clarity
in every verse I compose
study its contradictions
and versatility
One day blue is sad
the next, the sky is filled with it
winners strive for it
babies babble it
purple: is another
version of it
Picasso had a blue period
casting all his subjects in its mood
singers sing the blues
not to wallow in melodrama
but because they want
to tell the truth
Mostly blue is cool
like Cher’s son’s middle name
my favorite Joni Mitchell album
or the second full moon
in a romantic summer month
I want to shock the world with indigo
invent new blue slang
drop its name in conversation
wear all shades of it
Delicate or bold
dignified or casual
the beat is just right
it’s easy to rhyme
Blue: is an attitude
The emerging Energy Economy marches on, with another potential breakthrough from a partnership between Dow Chemical and Cargill, the big ag company.
The two firms have figured out how to make plastic from corn. Most plastic is made from oil, with the exception of polypropylene, which is made from castor beans. As an interesting aside, in the oil crisis of 1973, the only plastic that did not suffer from huge price increases was polypropylene.
The new form of plastic is so similar to petroleum-based plastic that it is apparently hard to tell the difference. What's interesting is that among other things, the product is biodegradable. It also only takes a few months to create new raw material (i.e. corn) as opposed to millions of years to produce oil.
Although I did a lot of writing while on my recent sabbatical in Massachusetts, I only wrote one poem, and it was one I had started beforehand on my front porch at home. I’ll be reading it under the Poetree at the Floyd Fest World Music Festival today, which is conveniently held right up the road from me. Poetry can be a good way to sing for your supper or to earn a ticket to a great event.
The Tea of Poetry
If my pen was the spout
from which poetry poured
I’d steep my words black
I’d let them collect
a potency of meaning
in the belly of a cobalt blue pot
I'd drop in a spoon
a slight shiny curve
with a looking glass handle
to cool down the burn
I might float a petal
like a pink boat at sea
but no other sweetness
would I add
Not too late or too soon
I’d let my brim tip
to fill an empty cup
with a waterfall
of moving verse
And if the wet ink
from my pen
could permeate the air
my words would stir your senses
before you'd take them in
Photo note: Vase and tea pot set by Josh Copus, my Asheville potter son who loves the Red Sox.
