SECTION ELEVEN
  POETRY PAGE SIX

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COLUMN FORTY-NINE, SEPTEMBER 1, 1999
(Copyright © 1999 Al Aronowitz)

[Robert R. Cobb, "the featured poet of the month" for June in The Nepenthe Journal, has his own website, Among Friends," http://people.ce.mediaone.net/rrcobb/index.html, which features his art as well as his poetry.  The website links to another website, Jack and the Family Men, featuring original music by Cobb's oldest son, Jon, and his band.  Jon has written 27 songs that he sings, along with his music.  Jon also has written a novel and 13 short stories, all, as yet, unpublished.]

FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Censored for tasting
Forbidden fruit over-ripened
On Internet trees  

Banished from Eden's
Cyber-garden for a month's
Penitence from me  

Microsoft's "Gates" gods
Forbade entry by proxy
Although I may knock  

No door will open
I may not be entered in
Because of errors  

Mortal sins explored
Against Microsoft's Command
May be forgiven  

Erased, expunged sins
They will lift the proxy shield
Guarding Heaven's Gates  

Reminding me not
To visit forbidden sites
Flesh-pots' access links  

Do not look upon
Hedonistic fantasies
We control your kind  

There's no privacy
On the Internet, take care
Big Brother's watching  

His "cookie" machines
Track every crumb-byte anywhere
Encoding life-styles  

Internet "nannies"
Chastity belt persuasion
Guard virginity  

Prophylactic shields
Covering events untold
To participants  

Computerized chips
Will legislate no sex found
No age of consent  

Lists of words and verse
Banished breasts of AOL
A "Case" gone berserk  

Citizens be alert
For self-proclaimed censors lurk
And spies are everywhere  ##

* * *

MILLENNIUM MALAISE

      Leave a wake-up call
for the millennium year,
alerting the complacent
      bureaucratic heads
that have nodded off too long.  

      The malaise inflicted
by the millennium bug
is real. Blissful ignorance
      won't make it go away.
The sky is falling, the sky...  

      is falling, Chicken
Little.  Prepare now for the
Y2K Armageddon!  

      The worst is coming,
case scenario, pre-ordained!  

      Prognosticators
forecast a  global doomsday,
ominous, total melt-down,
      no quick fix this time,
the clock is the enemy.  

      10, 9, 8, 7, 6,
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ought, ought,
does not compute, a still-born
      New Year's Baby boy
Father Time's scythe, on hold! 

      Power disruptions,
flawed information
systems, once "smart", now "dumbed-down",
      grounding air traffic,
trickling faucet pipes, darkness.  

      Cars that are confused,
by missing one hundred year checks,
phone systems, emergency calls
     out of commission ,
elevators stopped between floors.  

      Factories shut down,
federal departments too!
Banking, business stand-still!
      Economic chaos,
all microprocessors...soft!  

      Millions of dollars,
already spent, budgets depleted,
no one knows what is enough
      dough for status quo,
no easy "chip shots", for sure!  

      The millennium
crises requires solutions,
committed people, working
      night and day, over-time,
taking firm creative measures.  

      Honesty also,
to prepare the world's units,
to undertake damage control,
      faith not blinded by
the millennium malaise.  ##

* * *

collections

every once in awhile
a gathering occurs
of things thought lost
miss-filed
papers,
drafts of poetry,
bills,
junk mail
always.  

keys to locks
discarded
forgotten,
unused,
unlocked doors
now
may be bolted
against
the company
of intruders 

the organized clutter
when
two or more
people
"put things into
their proper place,"
and neither can remember
where
is astounding!  

material possessions
accumulating
at an exponential rate
seldom
called upon
until
no one
has any
recollection.  

i could be robbed
blind
and never discover
any sense
of real loss.
collections
are like that
unless
they are neatly
catalogued
to share with
interested parties 

one man's junk
is another man's
treasure.
we might never
know
what wealth
we may bestow
after
the final audit!  ##

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