This is soooooooo Seattle and, Even More, Sooooooo Totally Fremont

A friend writes:

I got this from one of my Seattle women’s writers forums. This is perfect for your People’s Republic of Washington segment. Calling all Comrades…It’s a Lenin Poetry Slam! Write your own collective couplets about the fearless leader of Fremont. We’ll all Trotsky over to see the winning entry emblazoned in Bolshevik Brass on the sidewalk.

THE LENIN POEMS

Having moved to Fremont, very near the Lenin statue, it has come to my attention that we’re lacking something significant- a Lenin poem! A poem in brass, a verse to lift and root Lenin. No time to waste!

Emma Lazarus saw the Statue of Liberty as a beacon to the world. When you look at the Fremont Lenin, what do you see? In conjunction with nothing in particular, I am requesting commemorative poems for the Lenin statue. I’ll put the winning poem on a plaque and the (best of the) rest in a chapbook. I’ll “publicly pour” copies of the chapbook onto the statue on July 4th 2009.

This isn’t a call. This is a challenge. Write the Lenin poem. The statue may go, but the poem will stay. All ages, languages and genres accepted, but plaque-sized please, brass ain’t cheap. If in another language, provide an English translation. No previously published works. Send your poems on or before 1 April 2009. If by e-mail, send to mimiallin@gmail.com with the subject line “The Lenin Poems.” If by snail mail, include your name and contact on each page. Send to: A. K. Allin, 600 N 36th St. #210, Seattle, WA 98103. No materials will be returned. Do not send your only copies. Authors retain all rights. Poetry judges: A. K. Allin, Gregory Crosby and Vanessa DeWolf.

Thank you, Fremont!

aka

Online Lenin Statue References:
Wikipedia’s Statue of Lenin (Seattle):
Artists’ Republic of Fremont: Lenin Statue:
Lenin Statue at Roadside America:

For my own views on Seattle’s brain-dead intelligentsia and their habit of worshipping the intellect rather than using it, go here.