Two Fifty-Word Newspoems
from the previous millennium

#82
judgment replaces democracy at last
the bumper sticker industry's sudden
boom drains the power grid
and the oil man smiles
with eyes to Alaska rolling
blackouts douse Christmas lights. News
uses movie metaphors, converts us
into "whos" waiting for conversion
of the Grinch, but capitalism
has no heart to swell

#83
Supreme Court passes stale gas
publicly onto consumers' rump roasts
in an explosive session today
justice said "phhttt" and "pop."
and commented by saying "ahhhh."
the area around the courtroom
smelled, not suddenly, of rot
and shit. In closing argument
the majority said "I guess
we ought to name it."