Good News

Good news never sells
The Morbid headline yells
From the sordid corner vendor
a column bender
Of truth
So says he
Time
And
Times again
A Mirror reflects
The page 3 stance
the sun
A daily grind for sycophants
And subscribers
hiders of the mammary gaze
AND IN HEADLINE PRINT
a dying man forgotton
The Exclamation grand-slam,
bang, the morbid fleet St., headlline SELL!
Stop press!
They can tell it all.
Saucy and dictating
Grey sky celebrating
Secretly we love it
And inadvertently rub it
in
Such subconscious minds.
Brainwashed yet waking,
Giving in debating
Not to buy
Fire stories
death dictating jackanories
Of the world
Yet the rancid fingers flick and curl
anxious text is whipped and whirled
unfold
behold inject
a hole
an ozone scare
the bloody ink of a fleet St. prayer for rain
don’t give us that again
you jack ass fools
print the lines
from high tech spools
from martian landings
to dead bodies in swimming pools
The banded
And the branded
the burning
and the missing
The kissing, two faced nations
Rivals on the inside
We love it
Buy it
Want it
Need it
Feed it
Quickly
Laptop
Corner shop
Click mouse
Screen crop
Zoom in
Headline!
How hard you hammer
Scoop me up and stammer
sensation stains the banner
here we go again
Text
an electronic letter set now!
a jet-set
tabloids formed from cave man scrawl
naked images
buildings tall
Cascading falls
happy news, the fastest flick
for joyous lines instil no kicks at all.



By Peter Crompton (C) 2007

Sophie, I thought this was very potent -- 'death-dictating jackanories' is the most perfect encapsulation of what newspapers truly are -- human tragedy told in the diminutive -- formulaic, simplistic . In fact, I have never read a more perfect definition. I like the way the lines are verbally abrasive, wearing away at the common details of the press, the hold they have on their readership, and where that readership sticks -- the stories and images -- the nourishing/erotic breast literally used to blot out the horrific content of the rest -- how the pap(s) in papparazzi detain those readers' intellects and create such a wildly distorted view of the world. And a newspaper declares we are having our finest hour -- oh it's pure gotterdamerung! Vallhala here we come!

I missed the first bit off the previous message -- it should read, 'I agree with Sophie.'

Even with the 'editing' facility I am a keyboard flump. And where exactly is the spellcheck? Can't find that. Help!