I opened the year with a plea of "No news,"
but since then it's been one bruise
after another pounded into our tired
brains (or, more recently, on peaceful
bodies in Seattle: for hell has no fury
like a WTO scorned). This year has been
plagued with whimpers that our sorry
civilization will end in a bang of our
own undoing with computers set free
by and from calenders. If so, then truly
a newsless age'll dawn; if not, get thee
hence to a dot com funnery: Newspoetry.

Newspoetry eschews usual news story
rules, relying on its A/Muse Quarry
Procedures (patents pending) instead.
These high-tech hypertext infusion
methods let newspoets inject laughs
into even the most sobering account
of hate, greed, and corruption. Enough's
enough, though, let's begin the new year
with a happy 'quake tale: while prying
off the rubble, "A cat . . . barely breathing"
found (after 80 days!) in Taiwan, crying.
Unknown: "how . . . [it] kept itself from dying . . ."