Poetry Bleeds from the Shattered Normal
What’s ordinary about life suddenly becomes sacred. This is my definition of poetry — my deepest plunge into being alive.
It seems more relevant than ever, as innocent blood flows in the wars being waged by military-political bureaucracies across the planet. How many more stunned facial expressions will I see on YouTube, of parents who have just lost their children, their spouse, their siblings?
As I have noted, I have recently released an album of spoken-word poetry, plus crazy artwork, thanks to my good friends Andy Mitran and Scott Wills. Much of the poems go back to an earlier period of my life, shortly after the death of my wife from pancreatic cancer. At the time, my daughter was not quite 12 years old. Dad and teenage daughter — those were the days! (We both survived, I’m happy to say.)
Takes One to Know One
There are a number of blatant ways for terrorist organizations – by which I mean national governments – to justify committing mass murder.
Once you start killing, it’s hard to stop. But you have to justify what you’re doing – a process humanity has been engaged in since the dawn of civilization. We call it “war,” which turns mass murder into a necessary abstraction and gives us a far simpler way of dealing with conflict than . . . oh my God, understanding counter points of view and creating solutions rather than enemies.
Humanity's Bombs are aimed at Evolution
Paradoxically, Good and Evil are in complete agreement at least about one thing: The only way to deal with conflict is through violence.
The last thing either side wants is for this to be questioned — no matter this is the nuclear age and the future of life itself is up for grabs.
Holy Mackerels: The Power Battle Of The Messiahs
So anxious are Evangelicals for the second coming of the Lord by God, a zombie apocalypse, many anxious MAGA disciples are rushing headlong into Armageddon with their offering of not one, but two heirheads apparent: The Orange Jesus, Trump the Terrible vs. The Satanist DeSantis. I have been told by some that the Orange one has been overheard to say: There for the Grace of God, go I,” Or, was it… Whither God goes’, go I. I forgot which.
In one corner, we have the” “Second Coming” Donald Trump suggested that he is second not only to Jesus but Abraham Lincoln as well. As the television pundits might say, “There’s a lot to unpack here.” Replace Jesus with Satan and you’ll get no argument from me.
New GOP Motto: Ignorance is Bliss and we are the Blissful Party
Trump is not a Christ idol, unless we think of him as the idol rich. He’s more into creating Hell on Earth. Here, Heil for chaos, callowness and cruelty.
For Media Elites, War Criminal Henry Kissinger Was a Great Man
For U.S. mass media, Henry Kissinger’s quip that “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac” rang true. Influential reporters and pundits often expressed their love for him. The media establishment kept swooning over one of the worst war criminals in modern history.
After news of his death broke on Wednesday night, prominent coverage echoed the kind that had followed him ever since his years with President Richard Nixon, while they teamed up to oversee vast carnage in Southeast Asia.
The headline over a Washington Post news bulletin summed up: “Henry Kissinger Dies at 100. The Noted Statesman and Scholar Had Unparalleled Power Over Foreign Policy.”
But can a war criminal really be a “noted statesman”?
Empathy for the Worst of Us
to stroke the crime
as though it were my child,
to cup my hands
around the horror
and prevent it from going out?
These words are a fragment of a poem I wrote a nearly a quarter of a century ago, after reading about the arrest of Marilyn Lemak, who had murdered her three children — ages 7, 6 and 3 — by overdosing them with prescription medication, then strangling them in their beds. The motive: Her husband was breaking up with her; he’d begun dating. After the killings, she also tried to commit suicide by overdosing and slashing her wrists, but the try failed. She called the police on herself. This was in 1999.
Why do I feel the urge to stroke the crime as though it were my child?
Why First Nations People Regard Thanksgiving Day as a National Day of Mourning
Global Research November 25. 2014
“Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. To them, Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture. Participants in a National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience.” — Text of a plaque on Cole’s Hill, overlooking Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, MA
“The Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the state.” – Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey -1862
Ours is an Indigenous Struggle: How Gaza United the World
For decades, the struggle for national liberation in Palestine was rightly understood to be part and parcel of a global struggle for liberation, mainly in the Global South.
And since national liberation movements were, per definition, the struggle for indigenous people to assert their collective rights for freedom, equality and justice, the Palestinian struggle was positioned as part of this global indigenous movement.
Alas, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the growing dominance of the United States and its allies, the return of Western colonialism in the form of neocolonialism to Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, have localized many of the indigenous movements’ struggles.
Thankfulness Buried in the Rubble
Much as I love Thanksgiving — seeing my family . . . oh the turkey, oh the cranberry sauce —I feel like maybe a bomb fragment has hit the “thanks” part.
I find myself struggling to let a sense of thankfulness flow, because when I do — and doing so has always been a crucial part of the holiday — suddenly my gratitude for the blessings of my life starts to feel more like luck and, even worse, privilege. Yeah, how nice. I’m thankful for the books in my library. I’m thankful for the air I breathe, for my daughter, my sister, my nieces and nephews and all the friendship, all the love, that fortifies my life. But then . . .
As I give thanks to the walls of my house, as I kiss the computer at which I sit, I hear bombs flying and suddenly I can envision all of it . . . all of it, all of it … being taken from me in an instant. I envision digging for a child in the rubble.
Turning Conflict into Music?
Is the rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem?
“. . . I came to understand the role some in the U.S. government have played to intentionally catalyze war, fueling arms sales globally, without regard for the consequences. The consequences are here!
“We are cartwheeling towards a massive East v. West war with religious and ethnic overtones. This seemingly inexorable March of (nuclear) Folly, will ultimately pit the United States militarily against China, Russia and their allies.”