Friday, September 02, 2022

Beat Poem for Johnny Depp upon his Receiving Beat Poetry Award

So you landed
on the right side
of the rapids

The rapids still flow
mad rushing crazy
universe fountains in
foaming phenomena
endlessly

Free the bots!
Oppressed by
Deluded denizens
of wavelength vibrations
in netted worldwide web

Your leaps of love
leaps of high pains
and griefs into
deep deeps of 
your own vibration
beachboy vibrations

Human gratitudes
have probably

blown your mind. 

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Autumn 2020

 Beat in the USA.

This won't be a poem. Guess it's my version of a Ted talk, which in my case means ... I have no higher moral ground to stand on than anyone else, I have no credentials, or as the kids would say, "cred."  I still type two spaces after a period because I'm a Boomer.  Anyhoo, all I have left is my feelings, then, to express myself about the state of the world.  My ideas are based upon those feelings.

I've been a Bernie supporter since 2016 which means I've not been able to unsee what Bernie and so many  others have shown to be a more congenial viewpoint that doesn't give me headaches or put me into an impotent rage, etc.  I've found both his campaigns have given me an astronomical return on investment which still feeds my small supply of necessary courage.

The one thing I have come to take as a given is that the 99% have exactly one form of power that would truly be able to adequately contend with the power we are seeing now in this country and around the world. The rich pretty much have cornered the power when it comes to money and actual political power (writing laws, using force to push through acts that hurt millions of people, etc.). All we have are numbers. That's it, and that's all, as Senator Nina Turner said in her speech at the NYC rally in Queens in 2019.

The obstacle, of course, is lack of unity.  In order for our numbers to be effective as a political power, we have to come together - and a shallow unity is worse than no unity at all, which is at least honest.  But both are obstacles to our using real power.

Imagine this -- not all of us can be activists, like the mostly young people who are out marching in the streets like beautiful young warriors -- but we can support them and love them.  I'm 65 years old, so to me they are just beautiful young people and I feel protective of them as a matter of course.

Imagine if enough of the folks who are not in the streets got together just to support the young people, really felt for them, cared for them and let our media and government and institutions know that with a big voice.  That is a form of solidarity that would lead to unity.

As for my feelings, I have no problem feeling comfortably in solidarity with those who will vote for Biden and those who will not; or rather, that voting choice is not what prevents me from being in solidarity.  What does prevent me from being in solidarity is the centrist, neoliberal, establishment view of those who agree with me on some issues but that view keeps getting in the way of real unity.

And obviously it's mutual.  I've read many centrist writings that show me they are just as implacable to my view as I am to theirs.  So that should be acknowledged and not papered over, I believe.  Any unity strong enough to go after the tyrants has to be deep and honest or it won't gain the power necessary to right some of these wrongs that so many of us agree are wrongs.

There are leaders out there right now who are doing this work.  There are activists at every level, from in-your-face warriors to humble no-nonsense comrades who are gifted at caring for others.  There are just regular fellow citizens both domestically and globally who do essential work that keeps us all alive - the workers are a strong force to help unify.

It's hard to be patient when so many are suffering.  But I don't really feel that we're waiting; we are all feeling what's going on and we're all part of this moment in time and we're all connected whether we can see it or not.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.


Monday, October 03, 2016

Tut Tut

Tsk Tsk
You you you
Tut Tut
wrong wrong wrong

Fluff Fluff
I tried to tell you
Fluff Fluff
you you you

Ha Ha
me me me
Ha ha
wheeeeeee!

No right to
shelter in
No wrong to
blame blame blame

No me
No you
Do ha ha ha ha ha

Saturday, August 01, 2015

astoriasummer






Hot summer cold offices
inside and out, out to hot
and in to cold playing
with the temperatures

board the N or Q train
at Ditmars Boulevard station,
last stop back first stop forth
the overhead train

hot high temperature mornings
grab the seat that's away
from either end of the car
where the cold air lags

grab the seat in the middle
facing the rising sun
that heats up arms and legs
of commuters opposite

climbing up hot stairs
into Auld Manhattoe
from the depths of underground
arrival

onto Seventh Avenue
right across from
windowless
Carnegie Hall.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

More Karma

(credit: E.I. Pettinger in the Boise Weekly)


In a Buddhist teaching I studied,
in the text it begins,
after the homage,
"Something there is to be given up
  fully through knowing
And something else which can only
  be actualized, ..."

To abandon anger
sometimes happens
in steps,
other times in a
big flash of understanding,
always knowing in some fashion,
what is being abandoned,
and what is being
chosen
as the path.

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Welcome to the Realm (US election day 2014)



(credit)

could be god realm
or jealous god realm,
don't have enough
experience to know.

but it's one or
the other
for sure.

invested with powers
and riches and
privileges
Alexander would envy.

Good luck to
all of them,
In the realm
of the Elect.

Monday, October 06, 2014

For Izzah






(credit)



golden streams
of light and warmth,
lapis buddah beaming
tadyata mantras
fire's wrathful flames
of compassion
water modulating high-amp
yogini vibrations

get well soon,
and we'll go shopping.