honest broker

"A broker expects to reap a benefit, a commission or fee, from negotiating a deal between or among other parties... The word broker stems from the Spanish alboroque, a ceremonial gift at the resolution of a business deal, which in turn is from the Arabic baraka, divine blessing.  Barack Obama's first name comes (by way of his father, same name) from that word."

from

Alphabet Juice

Roy Blount Jr.

2008

Adds some irony to Obama v. Wall Street, no?

"Spring Poem" by Judith Vollmer

Tonight fills up

with MTV & weary detours

around the city's broken bridges,

stale bar scenes with everybody's knives out

against public displays of affection.

I want to forget nothing

about watching everybody break up

and praying it's not me next.

There's something to be praised

in charcoal gray weather like this

when it storms each morning,

fogs over from noon to two,

then opens to a blue skybowl around five.

Jackson Browne & new potatoes

are here for us.

So are white plum blossoms

snowing on the yard & settling

in your hair.

So are artichokes & DiPrima &

frascati chilling on the back porch.

Like the old river woman who died alone

hoping to return in her next life as a lizard,

let me curl up in the dark, damp places

so I might lose those places again

as this week turns into next,

as tonight turns into morning & you

opening the door.

from

Level Green

Judith Vollmer

1990

DOOM

yo y'all can't stand right here
in his right hand was a man's worst nightmare
loud enough to burst his right ear drum close-range
the game is not only dangerous but its most strange
I sell rhymes like dimes
the one that mostly keep cash but brag about the broker times
joker rhymes
like the "is you just happy to see me?" trick
classical slap-stick
rappers need chap-stick
a lot of 'em sound like they in a talent show
so I give 'em something to remember like the Alamo
tally-ho! high joker like a spades game
came back from five year layin' and stayed the same
sayin- electromagnetic fields block all logic
Spock and G-shock her biological clock
when I hit it slit her to the shitter, thought I killed her goose
her power-use was pure Brita water filter juice
keep a pen like a fiend keep a pipe wit' im
gentlemen who lent a pen to a friend who write wit' im
never see the shit again but he still my dunny
only thing that come between us is krill and money

I sell rhymes like dimes
the one who mostly keep cash but brag about the broker times
better rhymes make for better songs and that is not
if you got a lot of what it takes just to get along
surrender now or suffer serious setbacks
got get-back, connects wet-back, get stacks
even if you get to get jet-black head to toe
to get the dough, battle for bottles of 'mo or 'dro
this rhyme flow takes practice like Tae-Bo
with Billy Blanks
"oh, you're too kind" "really? thanks"
to the gone and lost forever like "O my darling Clementine"
he hold his heart when he tellin' rhymes
when its his time i hope his soul go to heaven
he's nasty like the old time Old Number 7
still taste it when you chase it with the Coca-Cola
make you wish they could erase it out the Motorola
I told her- no credit for it back
if you want what they got, then go get it, its all gak
only in America could you find a way to make a healthy buck
and still keep your attitude on self-destruct

I sell rhymes like dimes
the one that mostly keep cash but brag about the broke times
joker rhymes
like the "is you just happy to see me?" trick
classical slap-stick
rappers need chap-stick
a lot of 'em sound like they in a talent show
so I give 'em something to remember like the Alamo
tally-ho! high joker like a spades game
came back from five year layin' and stayed the same
sayin- electromagnetic fields block all logic
Spock and G-shock her biological clock
when I hit it slit her to the shitter, thought I killed her goose
her power-use was pure Brita water filter juice
keep a pen like a fiend keep a pipe wit' im
gentlemen who lent a pen to a friend who write wit' im
never see the shit again but he still my dunny
only thing that come between us is krill and money
we sell rhymes like dimes
the one who mostly keep cash but tell about the broker times

Rhymes Like Dimes
MF Doom
1999