From The Guardian, Tuesday, April 16, 1912

The maiden voyage of the White Star liner Titanic, the largest ship ever launched, has ended in disaster.

Late last night the White Star officials in New York announced that a message had been received stating that the Titanic sank yesterday morning and that many lives had been lost. An unofficial message from Cape Race, Newfoundland, stated that only 675 have been saved out of 2,200 to 2,400 persons on board. At least 1,500 lives have been lost.

ERRATUM: The final tally wouldn't become official until 111 years later, in 2023.

I get it.

I used your '57 Chevy without permission. Truth be told, I like to think of my balls of steel as rolling thunder--ball-lightning--on that bat out of Hell that was my pteropine stallion. And yes, it was the last car to pass him by, ungulate and horned, the devil's last chance: but no fingers--ten thumbs made him irresistible and I had to pick him up.

And yes, we crashed the pillars of Heaven, as a blur of fire and ice through the uprights of the uprighteous. Rolling thunder, ball-lightning, All while you slept so securely sweetly.

The affectations only punctuated my guiltless irresponsibility--the faded blue jeans, torn leather jacket, tattoo stating what I was born to do, and not a dry eye in the house; no dried-up tears for what might have been. That kind of might ain't right, but now my kind of might was right.

Yes, I confess--proudly, defiantly, and righteously.

Whatever you shout at me, push your objections hard to overcome your red-shifting, 'cause you're falling behind. I'm internally combusting and I'm blue-shifting. Possession is my qualification, and I have it all. You want retribution? Then come and get me! At the very least, argue your point, 'cause we're movin' on! FUJIMO!

I'm on death row because the government wanted me there

Convicted without evidence

Guilty of conspiracy--a trick used when no evidence exists

I alone was convicted

Only one person conspiring? With who?

No, guilty of conspiracy by me and one-or-more-unnamed conspirators

Yes, that's a thing

Appeals judged in the light most favorable to the government

Of course! Fence-sitters beware

They'll get you if they want you

If you're charged, it's not

--Innocent till proven guilty, nor

--Guilty till proven innocent--it's just

--Guilty--so, forget the rest

I will die as collateral damage

Of someone's populist agenda

And will help my murderers

Get elected

And reap the love and admiration

Of those who label problems with a myopiscope

Allowing detritus like me to fall through invented cracks of connivance

Grand ol' lady on the grand ol' river

Water to the north, water to the south

Water to the east, water to the west

Gossamer veils hold it away

Mother nature fires

We dodge the bullet

Only to drown

From failed man-made murals of hubris

Noah is long dead

Saviors are rare in rising waters

Rescue only by ebbing's recession

Back into the wetted word whence it came

The city awaits the emergence of Jonah

Who will come with clefs--

--Alto, treble, tenor, and base

Embouchure applied to his whale's spout

In a water world

Sweet strains are the driest things

With handles to grasp and fix fast

So the songs will continue, sung

I know it's a lot to take in

My omnipotence to crush you

You're correct to feel safe with me

While our rapport remains intact

My omniscience allows whole truth

I know it's a lot to take in

I can follow your thoughts and whims

Vigilant for errant desires

My omnipresence--thousand eyes

To see you and watch over you

I know it's a lot to take in

But I'll be there when you falter

Omnifarious, I am all

These things to overpower you

To outthink and see you always

I know it's a lot to take in

A QUATERN is a sixteen-line French form composed of four quatrains. It is similar to the kyrielle and the retourne poetic forms, in that it has a refrain (repeated line). The refrain line is in a different place in each quatrain. The first line of stanza one is also the second line of stanza two, the third line of stanza three, and the fourth line of stanza four. A classic quatern has eight syllables per line, and it does not have to have any set meter or rhyme scheme. You can however adapt either of these, as long as the refrain cascades down through the four quatrains (stanzas). — Example here: https://theprose.com/post/739999/not-quite-sleeping — (Please tag me in the comments of your entry)

Apparently we're off to a great start to the new year, 2101. Here it is, January 2, and there has yet to be a mass shooting this year. Although it means we've gone only a whole day without one, we are all hopeful.

The President ordered all flags to fly at "full mast" today. This has not been done since some time in 2022, and even that is arguable, given those who died days later following the mass shootings before that day. Life at half-mast has become the way of the banner, each bangled star just as well representing a bullet hole.

How grand that banner shall be, at full height! What symbolism! We can only wonder, Will the sun set on the flag flown this way? Would today be a good day to fund mental health fully? or send a memo to those who decide?

Enjoy today's flag as it struggles against gravity forced upon it by the trouble brewing in some people's minds and likely to reach critical by tomorrow.

No problem for the unhumped

My humps explain

My difficulties getting through

The hump I carry for each sin

The hump I profit for my avarice

The humps grown in disloyalties

Lick the end of Clotho's thread with a forked tongue

Still creates a taper for threading her spindle

While Lachesis salivates

The eye of the needle accommodates

But only so far as Atropos' decision

And my fate matures

The shape of destiny is a landscape

Of humps on the horizon in stark relief

To the sunset we all ride off into, through contracting needles' eyes

Iris-out and fade-to-black

There's always room for fluid hope

When leaving the humps behind