subprocess sucks!

gistfile1.py

def subprocess_sucks():
    """ This  is what I want to do:
    stdout = os.system("\
        tail --lines 5000 %s/%s_%s/SP1*rpt\
      | grep IDM-GIVE-X2  \
      | grep -v Metric \
      | tail --lines=39" % (path, month, day))

    This is what it looks like:
    """
    p1 = Popen(["tail", "--lines 5000", "%s/%s_%s/SP1*rpt" % (path, month, day)], stdout=PIPE)
    p2 = Popen(["grep", "IDM-GIVE-X2"], stdout=PIPE)
    p3 = Popen(["grep", "-v Metric"], stdout=PIPE)
    p4 = Popen(["tail", "--lines=39"], stdout=PIPE)
    p1.stdout.close()
    p2.stdout.close()
    p3.stdout.close()
    p4.stdout.close()
    output = p4.comminitcate()[0]