The award giver is dead, the participants
at the banquet are all scattered; and, I have wandered
far from that moment and would never betray
this solitary solace. I have seen buildings collapse
in rubble, playgrounds filled and emptied, my circle
of friends dwindle and disappear. That night
I was a young man with a future, who could explain
how now things work, a thousand sadnesses,
early morning death watches, one immense sorrow
and a good woman^Òs disappointments and despair.
WINTER STORMS AND THE WILLAMETTE RIVER
Rustic Autumn colors
were carpeting the valley-
but no, the Willamette^Òs whimsical,
and turns morose in a moment.
>From the bridge,
debris bobs diving, brown
like curdled chocolate,
foaming, as horrible as anacondas.
Our laborious dreams perspire;
a cartographer^Òs nightmare
torturously giving birth
to mysterious black continents.
Like forgotten crypts
where decomposed corpses are entered
and ravenous worms rule, damp vaults
stinking of fungus, tremulous.
Observe the sick river
churning in its anger, as it weaves
through the moraines -
scattered reminder of other frozen ages.
>From a window in a cliff of apartments,
a cat watches a canary in its cage.
The husband glances up from the paper
that gives him his opinions.
He says, "Well at least the birds safe."
The wife replies, with a knowing smile,
"Would you be safe ,
if you had to live in a cage?"
A ROCK & A HARD PLACE
A light powder of frost covers everything.
Autumn mists silently slip between branches,
fine little droplets rise and fill
the Earth^Òs hollows with pale billowing clouds.
Softly murmuring, a small stream meanders
through the fall forests, whose rustic colors
of red, yellow and brown reflect tremulously back
with my blossoming belladonna smile.
Beside me, my young son picks up a stone
and throws it into the water. Its smooth surface
barely ripples, as the rock erratically sinks.
It, too, only wants to live;
but, somehow that isn^Òt allowed.
I watch as the pebble settles,
to the bottom of the stream bed,
back to the Earth, where it began.
It started and ended without ever having lived.
YAWNING
Day dawns a yawning grave,
while the wind departs with a final sigh;
blank windows blindly stare
into an empty pale blue sky.
Countless brown eyes and blue eyes
open on the dawn,
each pair as gently loved
as dew upon the lawn.
And, night, more beautiful than the day,
brings its sweet blessings to all of them.
The stars still reel radiant
though the eyes that saw them are now sealed with loam.
What sights do they see?
Are they peering out over no man^Òs land,
at our sorrows and sadness?
Or, are they closed now on the affairs of man?
As the moon fades into oblivion
and stars disappear form the skies
so, too, is it
with our loved one^Òs eyes.
Love, here you stand before me
the fragrant wind caressing your hair
our eyes that close on today
will open on a tomorrow infinitely more fair.
A TOAST TO THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW
When I carefully fill my glass
with the laughing liquid,
"Just below the rim, thank you;
and, no ice please."
And, discretely exhale a cloud
that fills the infinite expanding void,
until it blurs everything^Òs
razor sharp edges;
with subordinate clauses,
I praise the trilogy
in private prayer.
While the herd wears the uniform
of their days. I determine
to present an in obtrusive incongruity
designed to destroy delusions
and encourage people to think.
Generally its a complete failure.
However, everyone involved,
and some who weren^Òt, with the turmoil
recognized their injurious iniquities-
and then repudiated reality,
by erroneously extending
form plausible deniability
to a self-serving, systemic, self-deceit.
God fearing, salt of the Earth,
straight arrow, a real brick,
solid as a rock, a good old boy,
one of the chosen few, an angel,
one of the best that never rests:
how many lives would have ended boringly happy
instead of corrupted, or extorted, or perverted?
Here^Òs a toast to the straight and narrow,
now a dark path toward extremism and terror;
and, away from God and truth.
DAWN
Quietly, pulling the curtain back
I said, "Dawn".
But it wasn^Òt.
Dawn had already departed,
and this was something else.
And the rain played
disarmingly like a child.
"Dawn." But whose fooling who!
This is a lie, the morning
has turned into liquid lead -
sapphire skies will never come.
And the rain, as everyone sees it,
turned into a waterfall.
The other little girl was small,
and sat eating a peach.
Her big sister was immense
and wore green, holding her
was like trying to hold the morning.
What was she like?
And the rain, as it played,
dissolved everyone^Òs shadows
thinking, "What a good joke!"
BANDON DREAMS
A Bocherini quartet startles the stillness,
Dawn shivers along the whole coast.
The hoarse sea shimmers in moonlight,
the indigo sky glints with ice.
This is beautiful Bandon by the sea.
I think of Micennea, of Democritus, or of Crete,
for a cold Attica slumbers before me
in the soft reflection of the moon, and in my affection for the ocean.
The somber forms of firs towers in the darkness.
Distant, rugged with their ancient age, serious with their religion,
the coastal tribes of their dormant mountains
which wait, like everything else, for their instant eternity.
A gull writes on the sand
with its illegible script,
the salt water of the sea surges through my veins
our blood is the same as Proteus and naiads.
Ensconced in the thin white veil of our dreams
drifting through fragrant Myrtle grove is Ariel.
And a freezing cloud of vapor from this freezer
turns the rhododendron leaves to emeralds.
Large rocks wade through the surf
like hooded mendicants on a pilgrimage.
An opal ball begins to glow above the Eastern horizon,
radiant in the morning sky, a Venus reflects in my soul.
VASTATE
Dread, like a palpable presence,
fills the air, the slate-gray sea
talks to the rocks on the sinister coast,
in town the streets look depressed,
soggy leaves hang listlessly
their faded fall colors vastated.
A beam of light
briefly kisses a line
that is the horizon,
before a shuffling crowd of clouds descends
burying the luminous, greenish-blue spot
beneath a vague gray emptiness
that mirrors my heart.
O fragrant Myrtle
that symbolizes pure resurrection
in your green budding branches -
the stigmata on your limbs,
in this most recent fanatical time,
lift up your eyes.
Above the opal sky,
I gaze down through the scattered stars
strewn across heaven,
at the gulls and pelicans and other birds
II can^Òt identify; and, who, while wheeling
over the choppy sea, keep repeating: higher, higher!
LIKE LAOCOON
Like Laocoon, I came calling out my warnings,
before my country became a smoldering ruin.
My head full of alarms,
and my heart full anguish.
I have been vindicated that is true,
my prophetic predictions blaze searing through the sky.
Rarely have seers^Ò words become reality so soon -
I distinctly remember how people reacted
the awkward pauses in mid-sentence,
the uncertainty in questioning eyes.
Children, the ones who haven^Òt yet become hardened whores,
lower their eyes in embarrassed self-consciousness -
encouraged on by parent or grandparent pimps.
Laughter takes on a malevolent tone around me
and then dies into shaved seas of silence.
Transparent people walk around mw as though naked.
Still, I love them; however, I love them warily,
as one who has been burned
to many tomes before.
>From the heights, when it is cold and remote
and besides nothing is easier than seeing "them"
busily polishing skulls.
I^Òm sorry the truth is so hard;
but, I^Òm not the author,
I am merely the town crier.
"Look at yourselves," I keep crying,
"turn from the dark mirrors of your own reflection.".
They hear me and lower their heads and walk away.
They live their precious lives
behind narrow confining walls.
Condemned, without a trial.
Trapped in barren-safe pins,
from the cradle to the grave
in fragile transient bodies.
But, burning in every heart
is a bright flame of hope
fueled by life itself.
They don^Òt need to be told -
how infinitely precious every moment is.
They know, they know!
I was right,
and what of that:
I feel lousy anyway.
Come and take a look
at my sunburned face and singed clothes
from standing so close to the light.
AUTUMN IN MY MIND
When I was young
and strode through youth^Òs tempestuous days,
there were brilliant moments that sang out
like the woods and winds and waves
so dark and despairing was the hurricane,
that the meager harvest from my family^Òs yard was bitter.
And now its Autumn in my mind,
having endured the empty stolen years,
I labor with blisters and pain
to save my modest garden
ravaged by vandals and drought,
despoiled and desolate like a gaping grave.
Will the beautiful blossoms that are my dreams^Ò
discovery, in this small plot, plundered like a ruin,
the sacred sustenance form which
my soul will sustain itself.
Oh bitter World! Time devours our lives!
Still, there are many buried treasures
whose maps mute script conceals
invasions of secret hordes
RUMOR MILL
One of the hallmarks of a good theory is its ability to predict
future
outcomes. Last issue^Òs essay established a working hypothesis
as a basis to
predict future events. Usually, a theory^Òs confirmation
is neither so
immediate nor so overwhelmingly verified as was the case here.
The
terrorist attacks and subsequent virus assaults are obviously causitorily
related. This could turn out to be more than one group of terrorists.
However, the puppet masters are the same. Remember the axiom
of human
conduct, whenever you see a crowd of fools look for the scoundrels
behind
them. Unfortunately, the working hypothesis has now a greater
degree of
probability of now being correct than before. And, of course,
no
satisfaction can be derived from almost any contention made pertaining
to
these tragic events.
Rumor Mill contends that the reactionary response initiated by
right wing
politicians, while predictable, is extremely unfortunate. How
will
searching peoples^Ò private homes without notifying the residents
help?
First, simple steps can be taken by terrorists so that they will
know if
their houses are searched. What that means is only innocent people^Òs
homes
and privacy will be effectively violated. Second, profiling will
return
with all its ugly racist connotations. Third, any false
rumors or private
vendettas will initiate these unfortunate events. Another feature
of the
Anti-terrorist Bill is increasing border guards on the Canadian border.
First, how will additional border guards, and the great expense
that will
entail, be able to find something as small as a virus, when smuggled
by
anyone other than the most incompetent criminals. Second, obtaining
explosives, we have tragically learned, can be accomplished by manufacturing
them inside the U.S.. And, the Anti-terrorist Bill^Òs
Internet spy
provisions are absurdly ineffectual. First, how will the spying
of e-mail
stop anything, when rudimentary codes by terrorists could easily circumvent
surveillance efforts. Second, once again only innocent citizens^Ò
privacy
will successfully be violated. The Anti-terrorist Bill will only
cost U.S.
tax payers a lot of money and violate the privacy of our citizens without
any chance of catching any one except the most stupid and incompetent
of
terrorists. Finally, what is it we are trying to protect?
It is our
Democratic institutions and our Citizens^Ò precious Civil Rights,
which are
the foundations for the American way of life and the values, like the
right
of privacy, that they represent. The only positive effect of
these measures
is to alert the public to what the radical right has been paying their
agents to do all along. First, for over 20 years they have been
systematically spying on citizens^Ò, either by breaking in (some
on an annual
basis) to private homes, or more recently utilizing new invasive
technologies. Second, anything on your PC is vulnerable to invasion
of
privacy issues by means of procedures like carnivore and omnivore.
Once
again, the radical right have had this capacity for years, and they
have
been using it - at least now you know.
RUMOR MILL
According to the Rumor Mill the primary purpose of a propaganda
campaign
like the one we are discussing is to distract the public. Rumor
Mill wishes
the same close attention would be given to the negative effects that
this
Republican administration has had on our economy. The depression
continues
unabated. Their latest incompetent effort is another tax cut.
But, first
consider the fact that they don^Òt have the money to pay for
current programs
- including the Anti-terrorist Bill. Further, tax cuts will take
money away
from schools, public safety, roads, infra structure projects, the EPA,
head
start programs, foster care for children, public health, housing programs,
etc.. What is the consequence of further tax cuts on our ability
to fully
fund Social Security? What is the consequence on further tax
cuts on our
ability to buy down the World^Òs largest debt?
Rumor Mill suggests that we look more closely at the issue of
Tax cuts and
some of the corollary questions it generates. First, we^Òve
noted the fact
that it will impair our ability to buy down the National debt.
What are the
consequences of that decision? It will mean that American tax
payers will
have to continue paying billions of dollars annually for the interest
on the
debt and get nothing in return. It will prevent the U.S. from
lowering
interests rates; because, if interest rates fall to low then capital
flight
will occur - rich people will invest their money in other places that
will
hopefully generate greater rates of return. It will curtail policy
options;
because, if you owe large sums of money you are then not
free to institute
all of the potential policies available. You will be restricted
to
employing only the ones acceptable to those parties that lend money
to
finance the debt.
The private sector is in a state of depression that was brought
on and
exacerbated by the greed driven policies and incompetence of the
Republicans. A tax cut now, which did not work before, will reduce
government funds which are already severely reduced by the Republican
generated depression, and, which infuses money into the economy through
a
wide variety of essential programs. The consequences on the economy
will be
extremely negative. By reducing government revenues the Republican^Òs
will
impair the ability of our government to implement its arsenal of
fiscal
tools. This will impair the performance of the one area of the
economy that
is still relatively effective.
Rumor Mill would like to return your attention to the question
about Social
Security. If Social Security is under funded two effects will
transpire.
First, future downturns in the business cycle will be much worse.
Consumer
demand will be seriously impaired. It means that the Right wing
Republicans
will disrupt the primary source of income for 75% of Senior Citizens;
and,
with the aging of America^Òs population that is like booby trapping
the
future performance of the American and World economy. Do
the Right wing
Republicans intend to deny our Senior Citizens the right to retire?
Do the
Right wing Republicans intend to make our Senior Citizens work until
they
drop dead, thus reducing labor costs by increasing the supply of cheap
labor? The Right wing Republicans better realize that poor paying
jobs
won^Òt increase consumer demand, and the negative effect
on marginal labor
is something their wishful thinking wont help solve.
The Rumor Mill wonders what will happen to health care in America?
Do the
Right wing Republicans have any idea how to adequately fund Medicare
and
Medicaid? What about prescription relief for Senior Citizens
- one that
doesn^Òt defraud us of our right of legal redress, when
those who
deliberately give us worse health don^Òt want to be held responsible.
If it
was right for the tobacco companies to be held responsible for injuring
us,
why isn^Òt it right for the insurance industry and their health
care
subsidiaries to be held responsible, too. What does Leviticus
say?
This is only a highlighting of some of the salient features
surrounding
future tax cuts. Obviously it is not meant to be an in depth
analysis.
But, even at this level of inquiry certain serious concerns are raised
that
need to be addressed. Its no wonder we are being distracted -
contends the
Rumor Mill.