[7]  Why Old Mores Are Not Relevant to Internet Poetry Forums by
                              Peter Richards 
                              pe-richa@online.no

You think that I got here by backing down?
You think you'll find your voice by saving face?
We have no voices and there is no place
or volume, here the listeners can drown
one input by selecting other sounds.
So by whose standards do we kneel, who says?
A busted maestro in a leaded case;
a jester buckling beneath a laurel crown.

I hate diplomacy. It creeps along
the veins of peace engendeering mistrust
and fear of words, a province of the old
world. With pioneering courage, may the bold
young bard's blade not be blooded yet, nor thrust,
but held out, open, to be run upon.

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Reprinted from the Amateur Computerist Vol 11 No 2, May 1, 2003.
The whole issue or a subscription is available for free via email.
Send a request to jrh@ais.org  or see  http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/
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