This evening, just minutes ago, I sent off my first submission for print in a professional publication. Below, I'm including my original email submission letter and an excerpt of the poem.

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Subject: Poetry Submission: "Thanatopsis 2004" by Jamie Bishop
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 22:19:56 -0400
From: Jamie Bishop
Reply-To: bishop@memory39.com
To: kalle@adbusters.org

Dear Kalle Lasn and Adbusters,

My name is Jamie Bishop, and I have read your magazine regularly over the past few years, enjoying the chance to see an alternative mentality and worldview within its pages. Like you, I've grown increasingly upset with the current White House regime, its politics, and its utter disdain for environmental issues -- a mindset that Bush and Cheney most certainly brought with them from the corporate world.

These political frustrations inspired the following poem, "Thanatopsis 2004," my angry, updated "translation" of one of my favorite poetic works, "Thanatopsis" (which I've included at the end of this email for comparison). While William Cullen Bryant's poem , written around 1814, reassures and soothes a reader fearful of dying in a beautiful world, "Thanatopsis 2004" is an outright condemnation of a death-fearing, (white male) white-collar corporate exec and the role he has played in the rape of our planet.

I'm very proud of the poem and feel that it's raw energy and message make it well-suited for print in Adbusters. In advance, thank you very much for considering my submission, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Jamie Bishop
bishop@memory39.com

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Thanatopsis 2004
by Jamie Bishop

[excerpt follows]

Cowboy, you’re going to die, and
You’ll go back to the dust, sharing tainted ground
With the millions who died from your violence.
But so what? When you shuffle off your mortal coil
You’ll leave your kids a tax-free fortune and a free pass
Into their favorite fraternity or sorority. Sure, they’ll cry
When you’re gone, but it won’t take long ere they
“Plod on”, “earning” that coveted MBA
From your alma mater: your DNA
Rejuvenated and ready for employment
On the blackest market. Wearing the latest Gap styles,
Behind the wheel of an 8-MPG shiny new SUV,
Your youthful and brainwashed brood will go
To work, tirelessly advancing the genocide
Inspired by previous management. Under Junior,
The illegal alien, the Afro-American, the aged, and
Even the manatee, will hurry to meet you.
So live, buddy! Assured that when it’s time
To kick that 18 karat bucket and
Follow the other Kalvinists to your God’s
Gucci-sponsored afterlife –
You won’t go out like an Asian sweatshop worker,
Underpaid and malnourished, but, fat and well-greased
By the corporate gestalt, approach the family plot
Knowing that your legacy lives on -- under
Smoke-filled heavens and golden arches.

--copyright 2004, Jamie Bishop