by e.e. cummings

Is something wrong with America's so called creative artists? Why don't our poets and painters and composers and so forth glorify the war effort? Are they Good Americans or are they not?

First: are they Good Americans . . . when i was a boy, Good Americans were - believe it or don't - adoring the Japanese and loathing the Russians; now, Good Americans are adoring the Russians and loathing the Japanese. Furthermore (in case you were born yesterday) yesterday Good Americans were adoring the Finns; today Good Americans are either loathing the Finns or completely forgetting that Finland exists. Not even the fact that twice during my lifetime Good Americans have succeeded in disliking the Germans can convince me that any human being (such as an artist) is a Good American.

Second: why don't they glorify . . . when you confuse art with propaganda, you confuse an act of God with something that can be turned on and off like the hot water faucet. If God means nothing to you (or less than nothing) I'll cheerfully substitute one of your own favorite words, "freedom." You confuse freedom - the only freedom - with absolute tyranny. Let me, incidentally, opine that absolute tyranny is what most of you are really after; that your socalled ideal isn't America at all and never was America at all: that you'll never be satisfied until what Father Abraham called "a new nation, conceived in liberty" becomes just another subhuman superstate (like the "great freedom-loving democracy" of Comrade Stalin) where an artist - or any other human being - either does as he's told or turns into fertilizer.

Third: is something wrong . . . . all over a socalled world, hundred of millions of servile and insolent inhuman unbeings are busily rolling and unrolling in the enlightenment of propaganda. So what? There are still a few erect human beings in the socalled world. Proudly and humbly I say to these human beings: "O my fellow citizens, many an honest man believes a lie. Though you are as honest as the day, and hate the liar, fear and hate him when he should be feared and hated: now. Fear and hate him where he should be feared and hated: in yourselves. "Do not hate and fear the artist in yourselves, my fellow citizens. Honour him and love him. Love him truly - do not try to possess him. Trust him as nobly as you trust tomorrow. "Only the artist in yourselves is more truthful than the night."

This is the tale of Jenni, a Goddess of infinite beauty. She is indeed a gorgeous entity... and infinitely evil. Jenni was one of the original deities to rule over the planet, a loooong time ago. She was one of the very few gods of the time that was of a negative karma, and as such, the Gods didn't like her. Always one to get revenge upon those who didn't like her, Jenni smote the followers of the Gods that didn't like her, hence most of the Gods being destroyed. One day, about 3000 BC, the Gods decided that they had had enough of Jenni the Destroyer's antics. They ganged up on Jenni, and after a grueling battle finally defeated her, though many a'God that was against her was brought down in the process. The surviving Gods stripped her of her Godly powers, though they allowed her to keep her immortality. They banished her to the Earth, to wander the world for the remainder of humanity's existence. What fools they were. The first thing Jenni did was head to Egypt, one of the most powerful nations at the time. There, she killed the Pharaoh's queen and took her appearance, which therefore made her the Queen of Egypt. Jenni led many attacks against foreign nations, sparing not a single one. Nobody could stand against her awesome Egyptian army. Eventually, Jenni decided to leave the nation of Egypt, growing tired of the lack of challenge. Soon after her departure, Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great. Jenni roamed the world, killing people at random out of boredom, and taking what she pleased from who she pleased, none being able to kill her. After a while, people began to realize what she was, and most of them began to follow her around, worshipping the ground she walked on. They were the smart ones. The others that knew of her immortality and former position as Goddess began to plot against her, attempting to create a weapon capable of destroying her, or at the least banishing her from the world of Man. Many different devices were design, and every attempt on her life failed. Upon discovering the source of the assassins sent against her, Jenni grew very angry. She beat a particular assassin until he told her where their base of operation was, and afterwards she promptly killed the man. She stormed to western Germany, which is where the base was, killing every human thing in her path or line of sight, with the exception of her followers. When she neared the base, a sentry spotted her, and his eyes grew wide. "The Destroyer approaches!" the terrified man screamed behind him, making sure everybody in the fortification heard his call. Indeed, they all did. Men and women alike took up arms around the walls of the fortress facing the approaching former Goddess and her followers. They aimed their crossbows, bows, and slings at her. Then, they let fly. Many of her followers were cut down by the missiles, but not Jenni. As people fell all around her, Jenni's power only grew, absorbing the souls of those that worshipped her. The defenders shot desperately at her, everything finding it's mark, but the missile only bouncing off of her harmlessly. Finally, Jenni reached the iron-barred wooden main gate. With a single punch, she sent the gathered energy of the souls she had absorbed into the door, which promptly shattered to pieces. A man lunged at her when she entered the compound, flinging his sword wildly. All Jenni did was look at him. The man immediately stopped in his tracks, hypnotized by Jenni's inhuman beauty. When his sword dropped to the floor, she quickly thrust her hand through his chest and ripped his heart out, taking a big bite out of the still-beating organ. She went through the outside of the fortress like a hurricane, slaughtering everything she saw. When it was over, the outside was a large pool of blood, the stone walls having random organs smeared against it. Decapitated and gutted bodies lay about the place as if a war between countries had just taken place. Not missing a beat, she strode to the second gate, which lead into a building that housed the leaders of her enemies. Sending the energy of the trapped souls from those she had killed into the door, it literally vaporized from the sheer force of the action, giving her a good view of the inner chambers. She saw 10 men sitting around a table, praying to a religious symbol for protection from what they knew was their doom. And indeed, it was. "You shall pay like none other for standing against me!" Roared the enraged Jenni, quickly stepping towards them. Putting their hands in the palms of their hands, they wept and begged for mercy, but to no avail. Jenni, however, was not planning on killing them. No, she had something else in mind. She transformed the 10 men there into hideous undead humanoid beasts, with hunched backs and malformed skin and faces. They became her eternal bodyguards, and at the end of every day, they had to give her a pedicure, each one of them assigned to a specific toe. The onlooking Gods viewed this with much dismay, thinking it a mistake to have allowed Jenni to retain immortality. But Jenni was not finished, not by a long shot. She then swept through Europe, spreading a disease she had engineered known as the "Black Death". She would enter a village, pretending to be injured and carrying a basket of food, which she traded for medical aid. Little did the optimistic villagers know that the food she gave them hosted the Black Death, which quickly swept the village, not leaving a single person alive, all but Jenni. Eventually, the Black Death wiped out one-third of the population of Europe, all thanks to the sinister former Goddess. Many Gods fell before Jenni's unsuspected plan, their existence being shattered by the sudden deaths of their followers. Finally, there was but one God left for the realm of Europe, and he was known only as God. Seeing that he was in grave danger, he quickly teleported Jenni into the ethereal realm, where the Gods lived. He tried to reason with her, to get her to stop her revenge upon the heavens, but Jenni refused. Finally, God made a proclamation. He said "So be it, Jenni. You wish to be a Goddess again, ruler over Earth? Very well then. I will give you your Godliness back, but you shall not rule over the Earth... you shall rule over Evil, and be cursed to do so for the rest of Eternity! BRIDE OF LUCIFER, BEGONE!" And with that, Jenni was transported to Hell, where she reigned as Supreme Master of the abyss of evil. All occupants of the cursed realm paid homage to her, even Satan. There Jenni indeed did rule for all eternity, playing games with the mortals of Earth, corrupting their souls and twisting their minds, enjoying every moment of it. Thus ends the tale of Jenni the Destroyer. And indeed, it is a happy ending... for her.

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Jimmy;by Jenni

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jimmy. He lived in a town called Lawrence. Lawrence happened to be located on the continent called Zam, which was the only continent on the planet Zan. Zan revolved around a planet called Scum. Scum was not a particularly nice planet, thus it was named Scum. When the people of Zan visited Scum, they called it Scumming. Scumming (subject)was not a particularly nice event, but they did it none the less. The reason why they visited Scum was that they had to pay homage to the great God of Scum. The Scum Lord, as the people of Zan called him. The reason why they paid homage to The Scum Lord is that their planet revolved around Scum. If they did not pay homage, the Scum Lord, in a fit of rage, would jettison the planet, Zan, into deep space. Jimmy started scumming(direct object, gerund) at the age of 2. We look at Jimmy now, at age 7. The result of all this scumming (object of the prep, gerund) caused Jimmy to become bitter. He did not understand nor appreciate the whole scumming (direct object, gerund) experience. He did not give scumming(indirect object, gerund) his full attention, like most of the people in the town of Lawrence. Jimmy was an anti-scummer. ÒWe should have the right not to scum! (adjective, infinitive)ÓJimmy often screamed to his parents. JimmyÕs parents would then attempt to explain the consequences of not scumming (pronouns, gerund), but Jimmy would not listen. Jimmy then began to yell these things in public. Yelling, Òdown with the Scum Lord!Ó Soon Jimmy had to be given permission to talk. (adjective, infinitive) Then one day the Scum Lord heard one of JimmyÕs rants. He was watching the Scum daily vigil on channel 4, he had satellite TV, and Jimmy stood up in the middle of the procession and yelled, ÒDown with Scum! Scumming is not fun, it(pronoun, gerund) should be stopped!Ó This upset the Scum Lord, but luckily his servant said to him, Òto err is zanan; to forgive( subjects, infinitive) is divine.Ó The Scum Lord nodded his head and changed the channel. That was a close one. The planet Zan was almost jettisoned into space. Foolish little Jimmy, he just started talking(direct object, gerund) and couldnÕt stop. The result of all of JimmyÕs talking (OP, gerund) was not turning out so well. Another outburst like that, and everyone could be dead. Apparently he did not realize that it(pronoun, gerund) was leading his people to urine. Protesting (subject, gerund) seemed to come natural to Jimmy. His parents soon began to realize that. One day JimmyÕs parents gave Jimmy a space ticket to earth. Jimmy boarded the space craft and soon found himself in New York. Jimmy applied for US. citizenship, and for some reason he was very quickly excepted. He then found himself sitting outside of the U.N. building. He noticed that there were many protesters there. The result of the protesters protesting(OP, gerund) was Jimmy joining their gang. Jimmy finally was where he belonged. Jimmy began protesting (direct object, gerund) all the time. He sometimes would skip meals because he was so caught up in his protesting (direct object, gerund). Jimmy was filled with happiness at the right to protest(adjective, infinitive), Protesting (subject, gerund) soon became JimmyÕs life, it(pronoun, gerund) was all he ever did. Unfortunately Jimmy soon forget about Zan and his family, thus the result of his protesting (OP, gerund). He was not informed when the high Lord of Scum died of a heart attack, and the people of Zan were freed from their worship of him. Silly Jimmy, if only he had learned to bite his tongue.
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