July 17th, 2014 § Poem #368 § § permalink
Fuck you america
fuck you capitalism, fuck you
american dream
Fuck you rich folk
Fuck you scammers who taint the poor
with your poor infested taints
Fuck you land, soft and sotto voce
Fuck you sports
fuck you hoop dreams
fuck you field of dreams
fuck you gridiron dreams
fuck you who dream upon a star
Fuck you hustle
fuck you drive
and fuck you sacrifice
Fuck you world order, new order
fuck you may I take your order
Fuck you teacher
fuck you leader
fuck you preacher of seeker
Fuck you trickle
Fuck you down
Fuck you economics
and Fuck you hypocrisy
what I am saying is….
af
(written with pen on paper…feeling interesting)
July 16th, 2014 § Poem #367 § § permalink
What if we witnessed the truth?
Truly felt realty from the integrity of a journalist?
Thirty-seven thousand people died last year
by the hot pierce of a bullet
…about one thousand a day…
What if our lives were interrupted with this information
one thousand times a day
…who would we then be angry at?
Would we blame the correspondent of hype for sharing this truth?
Thirty-six thousand people died last year
as a result of an automobile.
What if we were to witness another thousand reports
everyday
paying tribute to those dead?
Would we be more cautious?
It has become far too easy for us to dismiss then place blame
to pass the responsibility onto someone else’s recklessness
but what if we were forced to witness our hypocrisy
all day every day every week every month…
What if we simply had to face the manifestation of our beliefs
…the blood and mutilation uncensored?
What would the American do?
Fight each other with even more vitriol?
Or finally fight the disgust we have sown for too long?
af
(written with pen on paper)
July 15th, 2014 § Poem #366 § § permalink
You can say it doesn’t concern you, doesn’t involve you, doesn’t affect you
You can say it’s someone else’s problem
You can say respect the rules, respect the laws
You can say a person should behave, should know their place
You can say two wrongs don’t make a right
You can say that people are just doing their jobs
You can say stop blaming the little guy
You can judge, hold opinions, ostracize, make jokes about
You can make strange noises in disgust
You can claim to know all the facts
You can say you know all you need to know
You can say you sympathize
You can say you support the silencing of music, of speech, of art, of opinion
You can say not to disrupt the peace
You can say dissent is un-American, is unconstitutional
You can say speak only when spoken to
You can say I deserved to be arrested, be beaten, be harassed, be ridiculed
You can say it’s all for civil rights, for country, for God
You can say it’s about Jesus as son and not as man
You can say you can’t be bothered
You can say you do not have time
You can say you have responsibilities
You can say you have a family
You can say you have a mortgage, have credit card bills, have loans to pay
You can say you are tired, not interested, “just not your thing”
You can say you are too young, too old, too stupid, too intelligent, too responsible
You can say speaking up for oneself incites violence
You can say the beatings are justified
You can turn away, ignore, avoid, hide, cover, detest
You can say it is for national security
You can say it is because of terrorism
You can say it is fascism, communism, capitalism, socialism, darwinism
You can say stimulus is bad
You can say stimulus is good when that check comes in
You can say the system is working
You can say the system is broken
You can say the system needs to break
You can complain for someone else to do something productive
You can say nothing matters, nothing will ever change
You can do nothing, could do something
You can accept status quo
You can say history repeats
And you can pretend all you want that things are not as bad as it seems
af
(written on computer…)
July 14th, 2014 § Poem #365 § § permalink
The Buddha was asked
“What do you do when meditating?”
The Buddha replied
“Nothing.”
The Buddha was then asked
“What have you gained by meditating?”
The Buddha replied
“Nothing.”
The Buddha was finally asked
“What purpose have you discovered by meditating?”
The Buddha replied
“None.”
The flustered man asked no more of the Buddha.
Then the Buddha asked
“What have you gained by your methods?”
The Buddha was answered
“A list of possessions
the struggle of overcoming
the success of survival
pain, anger, thick skin, cynicism.”
The Buddha then asked
“What have you lost by your way of life?”
The Buddha was answered
“Naivety, trust, optimism, many friends
…but I am stronger, a survivor.”
The Buddha was then asked
“What have you lost by your meditating.”
And the Buddha smiled and replied
“Everything you have gained.”
af
(written with pen on paper inspired by my kuzz)
July 11th, 2014 § Poem #364 § § permalink
Let’s start over…
words
let’s begin there.
words matter in all manner
thoughts
ink
vibrant air
they are the everlasting tools and weapons
unique to the species
words are
delicate
lethal
unrelenting
a few in the mud of the mind
calibrates the existence and path of purpose
world peace can be achieved with. And,
while humanity collapses still with. But,
simple, innocuous combinations of sound
responsible for
soul mate of
the ego
words
those blessed with the gift
bear responsibility
for what must be healed
by them
af
(written with pen on paper)
July 10th, 2014 § Poem #363 § § permalink
it is difficult
to
keep an open mind
when
you act
like a stereotype
and
refuse to be
anything
or
anyone
else
!
af
(written with pen on paper)
July 9th, 2014 § Poem #362 § § permalink
Our rhetoric is dangerous
we’ve no idea how many actions it perpetuates
The digital numbs us
fuels such emotionless anger
our thirst for war and guns and fury;
indifferent to the human element
Haven’t we yet risen above
kill or be killed?
I think about how poverty creates this anger
how inequality
both in practice and ignorance
creates this anger
how the naivety of telling someone to
get over it
when the speaker has never suffered
direct results of
what needs to be gotten over
perpetuates this anger
forges this anger
Perhaps the world was always like this,
I am just now becoming more aware of the party
But in this year of two thousand fourteen in christian times
we still thirst to dehumanize individuals we deem unworthy
I, personally, am angry that people refuse to be accountable
for their rhetoric
I, personally, am angry that those who are willing to kill
so that god will bless america
refuse to support america…
I, personally, am angry our Olympic uniforms
and the flags of our nation
are made in
China, or Bangladesh, or Vietnam, or Korea, or Germany;
Where is the vitriol opposing that?
I, personally, am angry that there must be a caution sticker on
a hot beverage warning that the beverage is hot
In handing our hysterical lives over to a virtual one
we now crave human contact and love
baffled why no one listens
pissed at everything
speak more, speak louder and speak with more anger
Conversations are always googled now
refusing to accept ideas
Lost is the ambiguity between fact and what feels like truth;
Outlawing fois gras but encouraging oil…
such arrogant hypocrisy
In the battle for equality, this anger boils up to
selfish greed -
Only those who provide us money
must be protected
Those who provide their services
must know their place:
make sure the dishes get cleaned
buses and trains run ontime
our trash picked up regularly;
we detest the organized strike which inconveniences
Rarely has a wealthy person experienced hard labor;
this is the ideal for our own lives
so
we must play nice rather than honestly
because what if one day we make it into their club…
or at least near to the sanctity of their positive opinion?
Our rhetoric is dangerous
I, personally, am angry
yet who will accept this cause and effect even exists?
af
(written with pen on paper, thinking about Jordan Davis)