Dear SMMirror Editor:
Since the extent of the Madoff catastrophe is still unfolding daily, I thought this parody of the famous first poem in John Donne’s earliest collection might entertain your readers, even those damaged … ?
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[pace John Donne]
Go, attempt your CPR,
Double down that hedge fund’s loot,
Tell me where lost billions are,
Or who won Madoff’s crapshoot,
Teach me to hear sirens singing,
Or to stop suspicion’s stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to enrich an honest mind.
If you’re born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Show me derivatives’ rights,
If profits grew your money tree,
You, when you’re awake, will tell me
Which vision failed, like alchemy,
And swear
Nowhere
Lives a broker true or fair.
If you find such, let me know,
Name me just one from Wall Street;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet,
Though he were true, when you sought him,
And fair, when you bought him,
Yet he
Will be
False to trusting fools, and to me.
Sincerely,
Jascha Kessler
Professor of English & Modern Literature, UCLA
* * * *
Thanks to the Santa Monica Mirror for giving America’s Military Veterans a voice in the news media. The fact that 70-and 80- year old Veterans have been peacefully demonstrating for 42 consecutive Sundays at one of the busiest intersections in West L.A. without any other news coverage is shameful. Lest we’ve forgotten, if it wasn’t for America’s Veterans there would be no freedom of the press.
Robert L. Rosebrock
Co-Director, We the Veterans
Director, The Veterans Revolution
