Al Gore Sells Current TV To Al-Jazeera, Could Make $70 Million In Deal

That really is a lot --- no, make that

A ton --- of money, so one

Has to be impressed because that

Channel’s watched by no one.

This certainly proves that Gore’s a genius.

It’s not even mid-winter, yet

I’m thinking maybe he was smart enough

To have invented the internet.

First Entry In A New Notebook For A New Year

The pages flip with cooperation of

Index finger and thumb.

A purr of flickering whiteness ---

Respectful, quiet, numb.

It’s way too soon now to divine what

Kind of year it will be:

The handwriting isn’t yet on the wall

Where anyone can see.

A prayer descends like a shadow

Eager to be bestowing

Strength to deal with whatever

Spitballs fate is throwing.

To Someone I Never Saw & Will Never Meet

(It appears that the final chapter of yet another

Southern California bookstore will soon be written.
I used to hang out there pretty regularly and wrote
this poem a few years ago after a memorable visit.)

Cliff’s Books: a used bookstore

in Pasadena, California.

The middle of a lazy afternoon

in the middle of March.

I’m browsing in the back of the store

with my back to the front of the store.

I’m thumbing through a collection of poems that

a student who became an activist in the 1960s

and then a cultural commentator in the 1980s

wrote in the 1970s.

Its only saving grace is that it’s

both age & decade-appropriate

in its colossal pretentiousness.

I hear someone walk in & approach

the gray-haired man at the front desk who’s

a) extremely knowledgeable about books

b) helpful as well as friendly and

c) is not Cliff for whom the store is named.

The female customer

is audibly brunette.

Young Woman: By any chance,

are you hiring?

Older Man: I’m afraid

not.

Young Woman: OK … Vroman’s Bookstore is

nearby. Do you think they might need anybody?

Older Man: I’m afraid

I don’t know.

Young Woman: Oh. What about Book Alley? They’re

a little east of here. Think they might be short of staff?

Older Man: I’m afraid

I don’t know that either.

There is a brief

but decisive pause.

Young Woman: You’re afraid

of a lot of things, aren’t you?

The Older Man laughs.

So does the Young Woman.

Such sly impertinence gives me

hope for the future.

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2013/01/bookstore_on_the_edge_cli.php

Christie Blasts Boehner For Delay On Sandy Relief Bill

I wish I could spy on their next meeting

When they go mano a mano:

It will look like George Hamilton getting

Roughed up by Tony Soprano.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130103/DA3INEDG0.html

From My Hometown’s Recent Crime Blotter: Altadena Thief Steals New & Old Testament

The local police are probably going to suspect

An atheist who really needs his vision checked.

Or perhaps he’s a believer who has some disenchantment

With regard to the “Thou Shalt Not Steal” commandment.

http://www.altadenablog.com/2012/12/crime-blotter--1.html

Unintended Consequences Of New Technology In Hollywood (Vol. 17)

This has turned many horny male producers

Into an everlasting grouch ---

Auditions being done on Skype have killed

The old-school casting couch.

Pondering How The “Fiscal Cliff” Problem Was Handled

We tell our kids not to delay doing their homework
Plan ahead, don’t make it a nail-biter
Yet here is the government of the United States and
It’s basically pulling an all-nighter.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130101/DA3HGIMO1.html