Found poetry

Some found poetry, by way of Ryan Cleary and the wonky formatting of his latest column in The Independent.

Probably coming soon, complete with beret and bongos, to a bohemian watering hole’s open-mike night near you.


Look, up in the sky…
By Ryan Cleary
ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

Big Oil has discovered our

Danny’s kryptonite, or maybe

they knew his secret weakness

all along.



Danny may be a

Newfoundlander of steel, but his people

are flesh and blood. We are his

weakness, his Achilles heel.



Not that Big Oil would ever cut back

on production on purpose to make us

suffer, to have their way with us. I

would never think that.

Danny may

have walked away from Hebron negotiations

and turned down the Hibernia

South application, but the oil companies

would never dream of retaliating.



Never in a billion dollars — my apologies,

I meant billion years.



Personally, I can’t see Danny in a camouflage

suit and beret, Cuban cigar

dangling from his mouth, preaching to

the masses from the top step of

Confederation Building.



That style of

leadership/wardrobe went out with Leo

Puddister.



Imagine Danny laying down the law

— ’bout time we had the ball in our

court. Someone is making billions in

profits … and it ain’t us.



We’d have to be

an independent Newfoundland and

Labrador to nationalize anything.

There’s that evil word — separation.

Better not go there … too scary.

What the hell, it’s time we started

thinking outside the box.

Consider this

column an exercise in freeing the mind.



The question remains: why isn’t the

province making more from the oil

resources off its shores?

It’s clear what Hugo Chávez would

do. Our own Hugo boss, Danny

Chávez, has heard the comparisons, but

he doesn’t seem particularly bothered.



Said Danny: “All I know is he is trying

to get a greater return for his

resources to pour it back into social

programs for his people … when they

try to tag you with someone like

Chávez, they’re trying to compare you

to someone in South America who they

consider to be unreasonable.”



“From my perspective, it’s not so

much stubbornness as it is being hardnosed

in our negotiations to get what’s

fair for the people of the province.”



Sounds reasonable.