{PGZ/12_121_01.02} (the program that transmits a new "baton"

{PGZ/12_121_01.03} inserting P-G op'ratives between

{PGZ/12_121_01.04} the rock and hard-place situations drawn ...

 
{PGZ/12_121_01.05} ... by history inscribed within each mind

{PGZ/12_121_01.06} encoding stupid choices in advance

{PGZ/12_121_01.07} insuring that democracy is blind

{PGZ/12_121_01.08} whatever tunes are called, we -- mostly -- dance.)

 
{PGZ/12_121_01.09} THE GEARS are cartoon symbols in 3-D

{PGZ/12_121_01.10} of black-box calculations well composed

{PGZ/12_121_01.11} to render "X" -- the probability

{PGZ/12_121_01.12} of triumph for scenarios proposed ...

 
{PGZ/12_121_01.13} ... within the context of STUPIDITY.

{PGZ/12_121_01.14} It "knows" the odds are not a guarantee.

{PGZ/12_122_02.01} THE GEARS DISSOLVE TO EMPTY CONF'RENCE ROOM.

{PGZ/12_122_02.02} No windows. Walls are black, and ev'ry chair

{PGZ/12_122_02.03} around black granite table top ... WE ZOOM ...

{PGZ/12_122_02.04} ... OUT high above black marble floored dark lair ...

 
{PGZ/12_122_02.05} ... of power setting somewhere to the WEST

{PGZ/12_122_02.06} OF HOLLYWOOD (an on-screen TITLE says).

{PGZ/12_122_02.07} Pacific WAVES are CRASHING near this nest.

{PGZ/12_122_02.08} WE HEAR the sound ... Then, suddenly lo-res ...

 
{PGZ/12_122_02.09} ... the BLACK WALLS TURN TO TV SCREENS all 'round

{PGZ/12_122_02.10} with grainy VIDEO in BLACK & WHITE

{PGZ/12_122_02.11} of SURGING OCEAN forces, somehow bound

{PGZ/12_122_02.12} to let dry land exist without a fight ...

 
{PGZ/12_122_02.13} ... though it could win (as has been shown before

{PGZ/12_122_02.14} with Noah's ark ... so goes the ancient lore.)

{PGZ/12_123_03.01} THE CHORUS ENTERS now onto our stage.

{PGZ/12_123_03.02} Their faces toward the walls, they do not sit.

{PGZ/12_123_03.03} THE OCEANIC FLOWS suggest their cage.

{PGZ/12_123_03.04} Behind their backs, THE TABLE now is LIT ...

 
{PGZ/12_123_03.05} ... from high above with SPOTLIGHT LASER BEAMS

{PGZ/12_123_03.06} of low intensity... They nicely pool

{PGZ/12_123_03.07} in front of ev'ry CHAIR ... The granite gleams

{PGZ/12_123_03.08} with multi-colored fragments. "Man, that's cool," ...

 
{PGZ/12_123_03.09} ... says some WELL-PRADA'D GUY as he appears

{PGZ/12_123_03.10} in HOLOGRAPHIC glory in one seat.

{PGZ/12_123_03.11} EACH CHAIR NOW OCCUPIED with Prada'd peers.

{PGZ/12_123_03.12} Again, it's just THEIR IMAGES that meet ...

 
{PGZ/12_123_03.13} ... within this space where "PLAIN" FOLKS decorate

{PGZ/12_123_03.14} the BACKDROP were the powerful debate.

{PGZ/12_124_04.01} VANESSA CARLTON KEYBOARD RIFFS FADE IN

{PGZ/12_124_04.02} amongst the WAVES -- the amplitude adapts

{PGZ/12_124_04.03} to wind-shaped patterns looping. WELL-DRESSED MEN

{PGZ/12_124_04.04} AND WOMEN who are well-versed in the traps ...

 
{PGZ/12_124_04.05} ... of humankind's society -- they know

{PGZ/12_124_04.06} (or think they do) the grooves of common SHEEP

{PGZ/12_124_04.07} just educated well enough to go

{PGZ/12_124_04.08} to work on time, watch TV, go to sleep ...

 
{PGZ/12_124_04.09} ... another restless night ... with helpful pills

{PGZ/12_124_04.10} well-advertised, of course. That's why they're here.

{PGZ/12_124_04.11} THE WELL-COIFFED HOLOGRAMS with "people skills"

{PGZ/12_124_04.12} in this black POWER ROOM. OUR SONNETEER ...

 
{PGZ/12_124_04.13} ... is LOWERED FROM THE CEILING ON A CROSS!

{PGZ/12_124_04.14} Just kidding, BUT that's how it feels to toss ...

{PGZ/12_125_05.01} ... yourself amongst the scowls of Hollywood,

{PGZ/12_125_05.02} and SELL your pudding-girl to whore for their

{PGZ/12_125_05.03} strategic bottom lines ... where bad is good.

{PGZ/12_125_05.04} If "Jackass" pranks pull eyeballs, they don't care ...

 
{PGZ/12_125_05.05} ... about collat'ral damage to our souls.

{PGZ/12_125_05.06} So do not waste your time along the lines

{PGZ/12_125_05.07} of human betterment... Just talk of polls

{PGZ/12_125_05.08} that indicate some teenage trend their minds ...

 
{PGZ/12_125_05.09} ... are being sucked into, like, since last week.

{PGZ/12_125_05.10} In any case: REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT

{PGZ/12_125_05.11} the clichèd concepts of the power clique.

{PGZ/12_125_05.12} If they've heard it before, they'll think it's "neat."

 
{PGZ/12_125_05.13} WILL SHAKESPEARE'S GHOST APPEARS ... lets loose a SLAP:

{PGZ/12_125_05.14} "You're driving me insane. Why write such crap ...

{PGZ/12_126_06.01} ... in sonnet form? Please write lame shit in prose."

{PGZ/12_126_06.02} I SLAP HIM BACK, and say: "I'd say the same

{PGZ/12_126_06.03} about your suck-up sonnets -- yes, all those

{PGZ/12_126_06.04} one hundred fifty-four -- part of your game ...

 
{PGZ/12_126_06.05} ... to woo your patron's purse strings loose, until

{PGZ/12_126_06.06} you tricked the public to support your vice

{PGZ/12_126_06.07} of versifying -- subsidize your skill

{PGZ/12_126_06.08} in metaphor, dear Sir." WILL SAYS: "Not nice ...

 
{PGZ/12_126_06.09} ... of you to speak to Shakespeare in that tone.

{PGZ/12_126_06.10} THE Shakespeare, stupid. Don't you know your place?

{PGZ/12_126_06.11} Four hundred years -- still famous to the bone.

{PGZ/12_126_06.12} To speak to me like that is foul disgrace."

 
{PGZ/12_126_06.13} "Why are you speaking modern, may I ask?

{PGZ/12_126_06.14} Are you, Sir, truly Shakespeare -- or a mask ...

{PGZ/12_127_07.01} ... of current 'common knowledge' we all learn

{PGZ/12_127_07.02} from SCHOOLING where we're taught to bow before

{PGZ/12_127_07.03} what culture says is great. And so we spurn ...

{PGZ/12_127_07.04} ... OUR OWN pure JUDGEMENT of what we adore, ...

 
{PGZ/12_127_07.05} ... and rather PARROT what somebody said

{PGZ/12_127_07.06} who someone else said's worthy to REPEAT."

{PGZ/12_127_07.07} THEN SHAKESPEARE SAYS: "Dear Lord, please strike me dead

{PGZ/12_127_07.08} again, before this stupid Boke reheat ...

 
{PGZ/12_127_07.09} ... Elizabethan verse for 'pudding-girls."

{PGZ/12_127_07.10} SAYS BOKE: "Hmmm... When did Shakespeare sprout two horns?

{PGZ/12_127_07.11} 'Get thee behind me, SATAN.' Save your pearls

{PGZ/12_127_07.12} of evil-doing hatred of the forms ...

 
{PGZ/12_127_07.13} ... that all good rhetoricians can well wield.

{PGZ/12_127_07.14} You'd better tuck your tail, and grab a shield ...

{PGZ/12_128_08.01} ... 'cause I'm about to flay your sorry butt

{PGZ/12_128_08.02} with eloquence beyond the devil's reach --

{PGZ/12_128_08.03} with rhyming verse, fillet you cut by cut

{PGZ/12_128_08.04} of sonneteering slashes. Truth I'll preach ...

 
{PGZ/12_128_08.05} ... until you yell out 'uncle,' and confess

{PGZ/12_128_08.06} your sland'ring stings against MY 'REAL GOOD' VERSE."

{PGZ/12_128_08.07} "Dear Lord, he used bad grammar! Would you bless

{PGZ/12_128_08.08} me with a ride to hell, before it's worse?"

 
{PGZ/12_128_08.09} THE LORD SAYS: "Yes, Boke's bad. But worse than hell?" {smile}

{PGZ/12_128_08.10} THEN SATAN SAYS: "Lord yes! I'd rather fry

{PGZ/12_128_08.11} for centuries than hear that Boke guy tell

{PGZ/12_128_08.12} another quatrain's worth. Please let me die!"

 
{PGZ/12_128_08.13} THE LORD SAYS: "I've been wond'ring what to do

{PGZ/12_128_08.14} -- since you like it in hell -- to punish you."

{PGZ/12_129_09.01} THE LORD just SMILES as Satan goes insane.

{PGZ/12_129_09.02} Then scowls at Boke, "How dare you bring me down

{PGZ/12_129_09.03} to earth to fill out verses? You're the bane

{PGZ/12_129_09.04} of my eternity." "God, don't you frown! ...

 
{PGZ/12_129_09.05} You know how that upsets me. Please behave {g}

{PGZ/12_129_09.06} as if such pettiness you were above."

{PGZ/12_129_09.07} THE LORD just stares dumbfounded at this knave.

{PGZ/12_129_09.08} "You're lucky, kid, that I believe in LOVE."

 
{PGZ/12_129_09.09} And so God smiles at Boke, and then goes POOF.

{PGZ/12_129_09.10} But her VOICE thunders one last parting thought:

{PGZ/12_129_09.11} "I think to start Act III ... you made a goof

{PGZ/12_129_09.12} in screwing 'round with God. You'll come to naught ...

 
{PGZ/12_129_09.13} ... in HOLLYWOOD by running 'neath a log

{PGZ/12_129_09.14} with STUPID side-tracks. Study 'Courage Dog.'" {g}

{PGZ/12_130_10.01} "OK," THE WRITER SHOUTS. Then says, Poor God. {ewg}

{PGZ/12_130_10.02} She doesn't understand POSTMODERN stuff.

{PGZ/12_130_10.03} To reach a PoMo climax you must trod

{PGZ/12_130_10.04} a path not trod before. THIS might seem rough ...

 
{PGZ/12_130_10.05} ... to modernists, and God (and Satan too),

{PGZ/12_130_10.06} BUT surely YOU'RE SURPRISED by what you've found

{PGZ/12_130_10.07} where anyone would think there'd be a clue

{PGZ/12_130_10.08} to how this tale might end.... INSTEAD I've clowned ...

 
{PGZ/12_130_10.09} ... ten sonnets into dust. AREN'T YOU surprised?!?

{PGZ/12_130_10.10} Oh. NOTHING would surprise you now. OK. {smile}

{PGZ/12_130_10.11} Perhaps by now you think you have surmised

{PGZ/12_130_10.12} that nothing will come out of what I say.

 
{PGZ/12_130_10.13} Hmmm ... Maybe you are right. That's true so far.

{PGZ/12_130_10.14} THE DEVIL SCREAMS: "You'll never be a star!"

 
{PGZ/12_131_11.01} REMEMBER Satan's crazy ... but not wrong

{PGZ/12_131_11.02} about most worldly things (which are nuts, too).

{PGZ/12_131_11.03} If you're not crazy, you do not belong

{PGZ/12_131_11.04} in this quite STUPID world... It's not for you.

 
{PGZ/12_131_11.05} So Satan wants you STUPID too, or DEAD.

{PGZ/12_131_11.06} Fit in HIS stupid world, or SUICIDE.

{PGZ/12_131_11.07} (Yes, Satan has dominion. So God said

{PGZ/12_131_11.08} in Christian verse, though THAT'S against the tide ...

 
{PGZ/12_131_11.09} ... of Jerry-Falwell Christians on the right

{PGZ/12_131_11.10} who think that worldly power is just fine --

{PGZ/12_131_11.11} who think: The U.S.A. is here to fight

{PGZ/12_131_11.12} God's holy wars. Our missiles are devine.

 
{PGZ/12_131_11.13} Our bombs should kill all enemies of Christ.

{PGZ/12_131_11.14} Right-wing-nut Christians think death's cheaply priced.

{PGZ/12_132_12.01} BUT JESUS DID NOT SAY that crap. Did not.

{PGZ/12_132_12.02} How can "resist not evil" justify

{PGZ/12_132_12.03} a Christian expert marksman sniper shot,

{PGZ/12_132_12.04} or C-130 slaughter from the sky?

 
{PGZ/12_132_12.05} LET WORLDLY POWERS -- terrified of death --

{PGZ/12_132_12.06} DEFEND THEMSELVES without the blasphemy

{PGZ/12_132_12.07} of faithless, world-wed Christians gasping breath

{PGZ/12_132_12.08} to shout demands for LAW's harsh penalty.

 
{PGZ/12_132_12.09} Though JESUS SAID, "JUDGE NOT," most Christians leap

{PGZ/12_132_12.10} to cast their jury vote to execute

{PGZ/12_132_12.11} by human law, NOT God's... The angels weep

{PGZ/12_132_12.12} 'cause Christ might just as well have played the lute ...

 
{PGZ/12_132_12.13} ... as sacrifice himself, SINCE WE DON'T CARE

{PGZ/12_132_12.14} WHAT JESUS SAID. We start our wars with prayer.

{PGZ/12_133_13.01} WHERE'S pudding-girl in this? She breaks "THE RULES"

{PGZ/12_133_13.02} of HUMAN concepts of morality.

{PGZ/12_133_13.03} WHAT JESUS SAID is only kept by "fools"

{PGZ/12_133_13.04} who have "no sense" of practicality.

 
{PGZ/12_133_13.05} REALITY's pragmatic ... Go along

{PGZ/12_133_13.06} with what the common wisdom says is right.

{PGZ/12_133_13.07} Obey the laws of man. Fit in. Belong.

{PGZ/12_133_13.08} THE RULES of life are clear -- so black and white ...

 
{PGZ/12_133_13.09} ... except when they are not. Then just "make do"

{PGZ/12_133_13.10} with rules of thumb that mean "defend your tribe"

{PGZ/12_133_13.11} from strangers. Help them not -- they won't help you.

{PGZ/12_133_13.12} I COULD WRITE ON FOR YEARS and not describe ...

 
{PGZ/12_133_13.13} ... the world's full scope of selfish, stupid, hate.

{PGZ/12_133_13.14} THE DEVIL SAYS: Just kill yourself. Don't wait ...

{PGZ/12_134_14.01} ... for someone else to do it. Get a gun

{PGZ/12_134_14.02} and blow your stupid brains out. There's no point

{PGZ/12_134_14.03} mud-wrestling with this world -- the battle's won.

{PGZ/12_134_14.04} Stupidity prevails. The Truth's disjoint ...

 
{PGZ/12_134_14.05} ... from anything you'll hear on nightly news,

{PGZ/12_134_14.06} or read in Sunday papers. Not in church

{PGZ/12_134_14.07} will God's true freedom ring. Resist, you'll lose.

{PGZ/12_134_14.08} THE WORLD will knock you down. Nowhere you search ...

 
{PGZ/12_134_14.09} ... within society will people cheer

{PGZ/12_134_14.10} a revelation of what's clearly dumb.

{PGZ/12_134_14.11} Wherever something's STUPID, a career

{PGZ/12_134_14.12} is subsidized by it. (A rule of thumb.)

 
{PGZ/12_134_14.13} THE THIRD ACT'S OP'NING SERMON comes to rest

{PGZ/12_134_14.14} on this strong note: Don't kill yourself. You're blessed.

{ # # # BOKE