The Brain Puzzler Blog

Episode XI of “Election ’08,” a series of spoken word works by Mike Varley covering the 2008 campaign. A new entry every Sunday with free mp3 downloads at mikevarley.com. To The New Electorate “For your consideration,” he said in a scholarly tone, “I would like to submit an anthem of understanding stirred by the memory of Carlo, the undeniable mother lover in whose line art aspires. His artifacts of romance are revered in a world where philosophers test aesthetics in second-hand dress, where DIY is darling indy yearning, where budding hearing loss is a way of life, where the Internet is a junkie’s throat itch, where we work knowing it’s not forever, hoping it’s not forever, saying it’s not forever in a world short of supporters, where the consciousness needs a leader who stands tall to the thresher, where 75000 is Portland’s pledge, where 75000 is nothing.” “Where the Earth moans and people perspire, where hired armies salute the flag in accordance with their contract, where faith based movements are making a comeback, for all the wrong reasons, in all the wrong places. Where the greatest heartache remaining is the rift between the simple and the striving — where the lines have been drawn with this purpose in mind. Where inevitability is met at the drawbridge with pitchforks and books of flaming logic puzzles, where false authority works far too well, where civil rights percolations must boil or spoil, where the wooden Wheel of Destiny is guarded by shadows alone, their …