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Smells like mean spirit

Could be verse: poetry ripped from the headlines
By JAMES PARKER  |  September 19, 2007

Lines upon reading that the Minneapolis airport bathroom in which GOP senator Larry Craig was arrested on June 11 has become a tourist attraction

. . . And over here, ladies and gentlemen, the suddenly famous stall!
Here the senator took his seat — “widely,” as you recall —
and tapped out code with a well-shod foot, and probed with a cautious hand.
Then the roosting officer marked the glint of the senator’s wedding band.
That smell? That thin, illicit musk, which sends a thrill up the spine?
I’m glad you noticed. We have it for sale. Repression by Calvin Klein.

Related: Same as the old boss, Backlash blues, Brokeback men's room, More more >
  Topics: Lifestyle Features , Politics, U.S. Republican Party, Larry Craig,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY JAMES PARKER
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    "A smash of glass and a rumble of boots/Electric trains and a ripped-up phonebooth/Paint-spattered walls and the cry of a tomcat/Lights going out, and a kick in the balls." These lines are not by Philip Larkin, of course — they're by Paul Weller.
  •   BLACK SABBATH ARE BACK — IN PRINT AND ON FILM  |  November 14, 2011
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    Write the Lightning
  •   REDISCOVERING METALLICA WITH A NEW BIO  |  August 24, 2011
    That the biggest metal band in metal history should be called METALLICA — it's just so frigging metal .
  •   REMEMBERING HÜSKER DÜ WITH TWO NEW BOOKS  |  June 09, 2011
    "Readers of this book will be disappointed," declares Andrew Earles, rather sternly, in the introduction to his Hüsker Dü: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock (Voyageur Press), "if they hope to be rewarded with the gritty details of any band member's drug use."  

 See all articles by: JAMES PARKER



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