Marketing and Self-promotion

My book sales were less than fantastic

So I cut the price something drastic

But sales didn’t rise

I can only surmise

That demand is price inelastic.

Marketing is not my strong suit,

To sell books you just gotta do it.

I will if I must

I hope can just

Inject some humor into it.

Self promotion has little appeal

It has a cloying unsavory feel

It’s in the same class

As the remains of the grass

Once the bull has digested his meal.

Politics

In reference to an article which predicted that Congress might have passed its last significant legislation until after the primaries and the November elections:

Is Congress really done for the year?

Do Congressmen live in such fear

That unpopular stances

Will increase the chances

That an election will end their career?

After reading Charles Blow's 2/22/14 column "Accommodating Divisiveness" in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/22/opinion/blow-accommodating-divisiveness.html?

“You’ve never heard me say such a thing.

Nor would I.”  Ted Cruz is saying,

About a racist tirade

That Ted Nugent made.

As repudiation it seems sorely lacking.

What's That You Said or That Fax You Sent?

My right ear went deaf suddenly

It’s frustrating, but it did set me free

To interpret my way

What people say;

To listen more creatively.

My hearing is really a mess

When I don’t hear I just take a guess

Is it more interesting

Than the real thing?

Maybe, but probably much less.

Without the use of one ear

I make up the things I don’t hear

I have a new hearing aid,

What a difference it made.

Will “creative listening” disappear?

Just a personal note here.  

Last spring I lost most of the hearing in my right ear, overnight.  I went to the doctor who ruled out an infection, but told me to take sudafed for two weeks.  No improvement.  I went back about a month later and the doctor suggested Claritan and gargling.  Again no improvement.  It took a couple of more months to get in to see an Ear Nose and Throat specialist.  No infection, no fluid in the ears, try an MRI.  A month later the MRI showed no physical blockage or other problems.  Come back in 6 months.  Meanwhile, I made an appointment with an audiologist, who told me that this sudden hearing loss happens, and if treated within 60 days with steroids the hearing will return about 50% of the time.  Great!  Maybe I didn't hear that when the other doctors told me.

Is It Safe for a Yankee to Talk to Y'all About the Weather Yet?

Snow birds flee the North for a reason

It’s the snow, the ice and the freezin’

Is it so strange

That this year for a change

The blizzards went South for the season?

Where in the Net am I?

I googled my own name to see

Where there is a reference to me

Other men with my name

Have earned real fame

And I have learned - humility.

Is self googling considered a sin?

It’s a sink hole I sometimes fall in

I could go blind

Trying to find

A site where I get any mention.

The debt ceiling - Congress is about to hit it again

On the debt limit the Tea Party’s intractable

My solution is simple and practical

If they stick to their guns

Then THEY are the ones

Who ought to pay interest and capital.

Remember last October when they made their stand?

The rhetoric in Congress may thicken

The government shutdown may kick in

Compromise on the Budget?

The Tea Party won’t touch it!

They’ve decided they’re gonna play chicken! 

After months of refusal and balk

The Tea Party now wants to talk

They get paid still

Because they’re “essential”

But federal workers must walk.

They want to believe they have scored

And “put some points on the board”

So they rant and they rave

They have Face to save

While the rest of the country gets gored.

The Super Bowl

Testosterone fueled helmet rattling

Narrated by sportscaster prattling

It’s mountain high glow

Against Seattle mellow - 

The pot legal states will be battling.

... and who would have thought that Masterpiece Theater would ever try to compete with the Super Bowl

It’s Fox sports against PBS 

Soiled uniforms against fancy dress

An opera star Anthem

vs. Lord Grantham

Aggression - displayed or repressed.