Sep 07 2007
WHEN PAVAROTTI DIED
Cyrano’s Journal Online and its semi-autonomous subsections (Thomas Paine’s Corner, The Greanville Journal, CJO Avenger, and VoxPop) would be delighted to periodically email you links to the most recent material and timeless classics available on our diverse and comprehensive site. If you would like to subscribe, type “CJO subscription” in the subject line and send your email to
BY GARY CORSERI
9/7/07
When Pavarotti died
No Statesman made a statement.
(They were embarrassed by their voices.)
No Officer of Meddling meddled
In another man’s affairs.
The skylarks fell from their windows.
(They had been admiring
Their own reflections.
Now they cried in unison, “He’s gone.”)
Rudolfo wept; Bellini beat his temple.
There was no war anywhere worth celebrating—
No victories, no monuments
Remotely compensating
The people for their loss.
“O mio babbino caro,”
Sang a hundred forlorn women.
Somewhere in a forest
A leaf fell from a redwood,
Undulating downward
Until it folded itself in humus.
Fox eyes narrowed and glowed in moonlight.
Every feral creature bowed.
Gary Corseri, a senior editor of Cyrano’sJournalOnline, has had work published, posted and performed at over 200 venues, including ThomasPaine’sCorner, DissidentVoice, CounterPunch, CommonDreams, The Village Voice, The New York Times, The Carter Presidential Library, and PBS-Atlanta. He can be reached at .
We at Cyrano’s and Thomas Paine’s Corner need your help! Our editors and writers work hard to provide you with the most original and diverse progressive content on the Internet. We are fiercely determined to provide enough people with a sound political education so that, in authentic democratic fashion, the will not only liberate their minds, but eventually cure the economic and moral disease afflicting our nation.
We derive no financial remuneration for our efforts to build a social order based on justice, democracy, compassion, and humanity. Isn’t that your desire as well? In fact, it costs us money to maintain our Internet presence.
If each of you donated a mere $5 a month—a trifling sum these days, the price of pack of smokes or a fancy beer—we would have enough money to cover our overhead, upgrade our server capacity, expand our audio offerings, and begin to provide you with compelling video content.
By helping us in this fashion you will be assisting the birth of a new type of American democracy, one which, genuinely rooted in the ideals we profess to honor, will finally measure up to its promise.
For you, for us, for everything that you think needs defending, make a donation that fits your budget today by clicking