by Tim Armstrong, from A Poet’s Life

I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can
I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can
And if you choose to leave me, girl, I’ll understand
I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can

Just like the Mississippi
Our journey starts in Minnesota
Take I-35 to 90
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Big hi to that country girl.
Hope you gonna make it on down
She said yeah, Tim, good to see ya
Hope you all stay around

The future’s not hardest to see
Do what you do girl
But please don’t leave

I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can
I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can
And if you choose to leave me, girl, I’ll understand
I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can

Get down when I wanna, man
Get through the darkest night
We were born to ride, now baby
Ride until the morning light

Took a trip down to Kansas
Missouri, then Arkansas
Stayed with her sister
That girl’s above the law

The future’s not hardest to see
Do what you do girl
But please don’t leave

I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can
I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can
And if you choose to leave me, girl, I’ll understand
I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can

It’s a mad house, baby
Fast women, cocaine and booze
Toughest of the roughest
I got nothing to lose

Before I met ya
Everything was going wrong
It been a long journey now
Girl I wanna take you home

The future’s not hardest to see
Do what you do girl
But please don’t leave

I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can
I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can
And if you choose to leave me, girl, I’ll understand
I’m gonna hold on to you as long as I can

Tim Armstrong – “Hold On”

And then another favorite of mine…Wake Up. Kudos to Tim for making his songs free to download.

Funny review of the issues, with Jack Black providing a stellar (pun not intended) performance:

Mmmm, shrimp cocktail!

I wish I had the budget do security and compliance musicals like this for HIPAA and the NERC Cyber Security Standards. Maybe I will just try singing a little at the next engagement. Ha, engagement. Get it?

by Nick Virgilio, dedicated to his younger brother who died in Vietnam

Deep in rank grass,
through a bullet-riddled helmet:
an unknown flower

Keiko Imaoka has posted an interesting analysis of the significance of 5-7-5 to the Japanese, and the emergent “free-form” style of English haiku such as Virgilio’s.

The 5-7-5 syllable rhythm in Japanese haiku is not the matter of arbitrary choice that it may appear to be to a non-Japanese haiku writer. Various combinations of 5 and 7 syllables have dominated the Japanese literary scene for most of its history, tanka (5-7-5-7-7) being the most prominent example. To most Japanese, words phrased in these configurations have a remarkably mnemonic, at times haunting quality, so much so that many war and political propaganda have utilized this form :

hoshigarimasen(7) katsumadewa(5) : “we want nothing till we win (the war)”

kono dote-ni(5) noboru-bekarazu(7) keishichou(5) : “Do Not Climb This Levee – The Police Department”

Nice insights. I may have to revisit my security awareness posters and slogans and see if I can achieve some sort of consistent mnemonics. Hmmm, if seven is lucky and thirteen unlucky…