[Newspoetry] and then

[Scott Rettberg]

and then

after he read the newspaper
in 2000
he was drained beyond politics
nonetheless
some succor occurred.

WIMPs it turns out
are weakly interactive massive
particles
there are more of them in the
universe than there is carbon
which is coal
and you and me
i guess
everything else floats
around them
or so they tell me
when they're not telling me
i'm eighty percent water
or so they say

some parts of it are so
disgusting you must turn
from it like the haitian
immigrant in new york
who you just shot
eighty times and a
year later you are weeping
on the stand

or

the eleven-year old girl
you just raped and killed
in Kosovo while you dismissed
her life as a part of a third
world country

or

the large animated fire creature
you just sliced into oblivion
with your steel
blade that enticed you into
becoming a marine that i
just saw on tv

or

you just invented a microchip
small enough and with enough
liquidity that it can record
your memories and 
translate all history
into a rap song 
with a decent

beat

and the dahlia llama
advises us all
to keep on laughing.