Dear Friends,
I learned from a Substack titled The Haiku Daily that “Sacramento has just approved the purchase of over $1,000,000 of military equipment for its police.”
This gave me pause, not only because of the questionable constitutionality of deploying troops in American cities such as Portland, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but also because of growing concerns about how local law enforcement uses military equipment already distributed nationwide.
For example, in August LAIST published a story titled “Santa Ana police have been violating state military equipment law for 2 years: ‘We messed up.’” That article by Yusra Farzan reminded me that “California law enforcement agencies are required to track and publicly document how they use military equipment, including less-lethal bean bag shotgun rounds, drones and armored vehicles, under a state law passed in 2022.”
In June of this year, Abigail R. Hall wrote in an LA Times editorial that “Since the nation’s founding, laws have aimed to separate the roles of police and military. The police are civilian peacekeepers. They are expected to protect the rights of all individuals they encounter — victims and suspects alike — and to use force only as a last resort.”
Hall continues: “The military, in contrast, is trained for war: to engage and destroy enemies. Proactive, often violent engagement with enemy combatants is part of the job.”
I do not want myself, my family, or other peaceful protesters to be treated as enemy combatants by domestic law enforcement. Under the latest 1033 program, local police are required to use military equipment or risk losing it. I myself don’t want to live in a community where the police have bean bag shotgun round quotas.
I performed a poem about plans to bring a mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle (MRAP) to Davis on the evening that I became poet laureate of Davis in 2014. As you can see from the following, I did not want to encounter military vehicles while strolling up Sycamore Avenue on a Sunday afternoon.
I phoned then-mayor Dan Wolk to see if he wanted to hear my poem before I read it at the city chambers. He declined, explaining that he did not want to influence the content in any way. He had too much respect for the First Amendment to the Constitution. Even near the start of his legislative career, our youthful mayor was already thinking with the wisdom of a judge.
The poem was titled “The Blood Jet.”
The Blood Jet
“The blood jet is poetry, / there is no stopping it.”
Sylvia Plath
There is a giant shaking the second floor of the house,
and he wishes to have words with you.
There is a beast stretching his many limbs beneath your bed,
and he opens his mouths to speak.
The pool is sloshing, and a metaphor seeks to be born.
There’s a tank hiding in the city of Davis,
and the tank is a symbol.
A metaphor is hiding in the imagination of Davis,
and it is better hidden than the tank.
The contrarians of Davis will help us decide the uses of the tank.
Search and rescue!
Toxic oil train explosion recovery!
It shall never be used to quell.
We have learned much about quelling,
and the people will not be quelled.
The tank is a symbol.
A city that needs symbols has rejected its tank.
Some wish it to be a peace tank – a weapon of peace.
Pink and orange peace decals affixed to the tank!
Flowers in the turrets of the tank!
(It’s not a tank.)
Fill its un-turreted maw with flowers, then.
On Picnic Day, let David Breaux, our Man of Compassion,
Climb the tank and wave to the children of Davis.
Meanwhile, a thousand dollars a month for the tank!
Some say ten thousand dollars a month for the tank.
The tank needs to be fed, and flowers will not sustain it.
Even the peacefulness of David Breaux will not sustain the tank.
It is a symbol hungry for more than symbols!
Somebody wrap up the MRAP and send it on its way!
Shall its exit be our symbol?
Let it arrive elsewhere, postage due.
Goodbye to the tankhouse!
Goodbye to the tank!
But the giant is still shaking the second floor of your house.
The giant wants us to awaken!
It’s an impact tremor, that’s what it is!
Wake up Davis, for the temblor has tumbled you out of bed!
We must replenish the metaphors of the absent poet!
You mustn’t lose your spark of madness, the genie told us.
Who will replenish his metaphors?
What shall be our new symbol?
We have been jolted awake,
and the city is charged with the potential of metaphor.
Your alarm is ringing!
Do not hit snooze on the unwritten poem.
The morning star cares not for your snooze button.
Someone in Davis feels the blood jet of poetry.
Someone in Davis is trembling with emotion,
and shouldn’t that someone be you?
Fall is here! Yesterday Lucas Frerichs stopped by my outdoor class to give a guest lecture to my Arboretum students on mental health! We all need more mental health, walks in the Arboretum, and Lucas Frerichs! I invite you to join the regulars and irregulars outside our favorite brewery tonight for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. There might be a larger crowd than usual, so come early. I might even join you for dinner. As I said last week, festivity will abound! Today’s pub quiz is a muscular 937 words, if we count the answers. The answers always count, like that guy with the monocle on Sesame Street.
In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: faraway countries, navigation aids, US District Courts, godliness, Oscars, kings, big cities, beers, unusual Christmas gifts, monuments, French dairies, people with unusual names, places that are above the Alps, literary words, planets, acclaimed losers, princes, housing units, published stories, the additions of silent E’s, doctors, newspapers, Shakespearean love, titles, Supersonics, games, popular powders, flowers, trivia itself, nepotism babies, deserts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.
For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.
Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 80 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Kiera, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! I should write a question for Kiera. Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of the aforementioned avocado. I appreciate the Mavens’ kind words to me in the newspaper. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria Breaux, to whom I send sustained compassion. She can tell from my poem that I was always a fan of her brother. My new paid Substack Subscriber is Anne Da Vigo. Check out her mysteries! Thanks to new subscriber Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas.
Best,
Dr. Andy
P.S. Three poems from last week:
- Mottos and Slogans. ALCOA has used the tagline “The Element of Possibility.” What does the first A in the corporation name ALCOA stand for?
- Internet Culture. Which company launched “Orion” AR glasses in 2025, replacing its earlier experiment with Ray-Ban Stories?
- Newspaper Headlines. A new season of the TV show Survivorstarts this week. Is it Survivor 9, Survivor 29, or Survivor 49?
P.P.S. Two of my favorite poets are reading in Davis on October 2nd at 7 PM at the Natsoulas Gallery: Lawrence Dinkins and Bob Stanley!