I Found It!

...I don't know what exactly happened with Tim's submission, or how it ended up in my SPAM folder but here is the Post entitled "War." as he sent it to me and as I promised.

I am a little behind on things at home so the next post will be from Alan Casline but it won't post for a day or two.

obeedúid~
29/May/08


( P.S.: ...I call the artwork for this post "Mr. Greenspam"... obviously a friend of, but totally not related to "Mr. Green Jeans" )

War.

There’s always been war, war isn’t new

Britain invaded France, France invaded Britain

Ten miles of land taken away, ten miles taken back

The Catholics against the protestants

The Christians against the Muslims

Everybody against the Jews

They avenge the killing of their fathers and uncles

Their sons avenge the killing of their fathers and uncles

Napolean, Ivan the Terrible, Alexander the Great

The Hitlers, the Mussolini’s

The Blairs, the Bushes, the Cheneys

Marines march in lockstep at the US Open

Fighter jets fly above, thousands stand attention

The Army marches at Nascar

Military music blares at football games

Boys are clobbered, we applaud, we cheer

when they’re carried off the field

Their fathers call them heroes, we pay them millions

Hockey players legally assault one another

Men yell kill him kill him, they call that competition

Its war, its indoctrination, its glorification, its normalization of war

War against terrorism War against drugs War against Crime

Family Feuds are family wars, its war its still war

Star Wars, even Lord of the Rings is about war

The Civil War is on public TV

The Japanese War is on History

We say we hate war, we love war, we need it really

its everywhere I look, everywhere I see

You say I’m pro-war because I say they’ll always be war

I’m resigned to war, you say I’m wrong, we should have peace

I say read your history, you can’t rewrite a thousand years, a thousand wars

Talking about war makes us blind, makes us deaf

We close our eyes, close our ears

Only thinking of what to say next

They’ll always be war, we can’t help it

Just like the birds, the mammals

the fish, ants, the bees

We are mammals, we are animals

Like all living things

Fighting for supremacy, fighting over territory

Tim Verhaegen

Thu, May 15, 2008 at 9:20 PM

"The Survey Says:"

A week ago I posed this question in the form of a survey:

Is it naive to believe that poetry can be a social conscience and a force for change?

A lack of response prompted me to send out this E-mail:

~

I posted a new survey on the new blog a couple of days ago:

Is it naive to believe that poetry can be a social conscience and a force for change?

Votes so far: 0
Days left to vote: 4

So far Apathy Wins!

~

Barb Vink responded:

"Not apathy. No time, no time, no time. I have not even prepared for my Sunday guest shot yet. But I will answer this one. Succinctly."

Larry Rapant responded:

"Some questions, if not most, just can't be answered yes or no, and that question is definitely one of them. I'm glad Walt Whitman wrote his Song of Myself, or else I would have been hopelessly lonely and desperate as a teen.

So my life has been positively affected by a poet. As far as the social change is concerned, that is a much bigger issue that depends entirely on the degree to which one thinks that an individual's life actually affects the world at large. That's a much more dubious question, especially when one reflects on how little people like Jesus, Gandhi, etc. have managed to change basic human nature, i.e., how little we have changed as a species over the generations."

Cathy Anderson responded to the E-mail this way:

" I think apathy won a long time ago when all the evils in the world were blamed on homosexuals and abortion-rights groups. The religious fundamentalists were pleased as punch to point fingers and the sheep all went along in the name of God. Can poetry have an influence for good to flourish? I don't think so because too few people read poetry. So I vote "no.""

Cathy Anderson Also said:

I do think it is naive to think poetry can bring about social change. In a few instances, kids lucky enough to have a great teacher will benefit but I don't think poetry reaches the kinds of people who need it.

~

O.K., so I admit (and I said so to Alan today at Smitties) It was a "Trick question." meant to see if everyone was actually reading what I was saying. To vote in favor you had to vote "No." to vote against you had to vote "Yes."

I suppose you could say this negates the survey and its results. However, if you will notice the survey closed in a tie. The E-mails don't add up to the results, the debate continues, the question unanswered.

I learned something.

obeedúid~

Rapant-a-Rant!

“We’re cruising at 40,000!” the captain said.

I’m contemplating the question of whether life has meaning, gazing absent-mindedly down on the floor tiles, when suddenly I realize that the plastic is coming alive with thousands of dot-size ants that have made their home somewhere below this toilet seat.

Believe it or not, I think I know exactly how they feel. They have opted for the collectivist perspective, which is to say that, for them, the meaning of life streams forth from the holey center of a great sand hill and is both universal and absolute. There is not one smelly skeptical relativist to be found among this lot, and, although their conversations may be somewhat lacking in originality and verve, the aerial view that I have of their scurrying culture does remind me of a rush hour cityscape as observed from a topped out jet.

So, I piss and shit and flush, harboring a nasty, self-centered wish for my waste products to inundate that awful queendom under me just like a tsunami.

Larry Rapant

Thu, May 22, 2008 at 3:29 PM

It baffles me

All right, I got worked up about Hillary (again) when I read that The Huffington Post is running a shocker of a piece claiming that Clinton donor and entertainment magnate Haim Saban offered the Young Democrats of America access to $1 million in funds if their two remaining superdelegates - David Hardt and Crystal Strait - endorsed Sen. Clinton. It was substantiated by four independent sources.

Why can't so many people see through this woman's housewifely facade to the snake oil salewoman behind it. She has played one dirty card after another in this campaign and now continues to divide the party with her personal ambitions in the face of defeat. I do not find this admirable, but entirely self serving.

Before the campaign the woman rode Bill's flapping coattails to a position of name-recognition, albeit for rather dubious reasons - cuckolded wife, mediocre lawyer, the Whitewater scandal with the suspicious death of her associate Vince Foster, her first failure to organize a national health care system - how many chances are we going to give her?

What is it about this woman than is accomplished or admirable? She has a long record of failures, personal and professional and no experience in government or foreign affairs, other than what was injected by her husband (if he ever slept with her).

I can't stand it.

olliesmom

8:07 AM (8 hours ago) Mimi Moriarty Said:

Distraction.

God damn the grinning kings, God damn the kaiser and the czar.

Carl Sandburg

The sitting President of the United States shows up

on a sleazy game show, then the next morning his wife

hosts the Today Show, sharing the spotlight with Barbara

and Jenna. Jenna will be walking down the aisle soon,

Barbara will be her maid-of-honor, so there was conversation

about separation with an expert on twin behavior.

It feels like another run for office, even though his eight

years are up. Analysts tell us his points are low, citizens

are suffering from war fatigue, gas-price gouging fatigue,

the earth is melting fatigue, so what we need is a distraction,

something electric or digital, instantly satisfying, like a virtual

tour of Federal Theme Parks, a glut of Happy Strangers

Waving.

This should keep us distracted long enough that we forget about

the sham we call Foreign Aid, the face of Sudan starving, the sham

we call American Education, children entering school through

metal detectors, the sham we call Health Care, veterans

at the Plexiglas window, turned away. As long as news

can be spun into entertainment, we will swallow what we hear.

As long as George refuses to reconsider his peeling, faded policies,

we will remain mired in muck and conspiracy.

Is it me, or does anyone else think this is immoral, unconscionable,

damnable, this Public Relations Blitz when boys in uniforms

are dying on wind-swept sand dunes, and grandmothers in Iowa

have to choose between paying the rent and paying for groceries.

We have been bamboozled.

The electronic image of the sitting President of the United States

flickers on my screen, slick and steamy. He encourages an Iraqi vet,

who is surrounded by scantily-clad models, to go for the jackpot.

Meanwhile, Laura, her smile pasted on her face, gives us a tour

of the ranch while his daughters sit in front of the camera, legs

crossed, showing just a smidgen of thigh.

Is it me, or are you too outraged? Because it looks like he's

going to get away with it, not held accountable, not George or

Dick or Condy or Don. I blame the media, I blame the Republicans,

I blame the Democrats, I blame the Pentagon, I'm even blaming

the Pope, just because I'm pissed as hell with him, too.

I'm spitting these words as fast as I can type,

I'm pissed, I'm pissed, I'm pissed

because there's not one damned thing I can do about it.

By the way, tomorrow night the President will be hosting

Wheel of Fortune. There's nothing Pat Sajak can do about it,

and I hear he's pissed as Hell.

Mimi Moriarty

15/May/08

7:12 AM (8 hours ago) Larry Rapant said:

Mine are all mean-spirited, nasty and malicious, but they are not personal attacks because I don't care about anyone enough to make that effort.

Home:

Who was singing when NY burned and Rudy played the violin?

What if Augustine never lived to dream up Bosch's hell?

Why didn't we listen to Julian instead?

Why did we have to wait for Aquinas to reason?

…and Patrick, what of Patrick?

Where is his loving God currently?

~

The Babari no longer bark at the Volga's Edge;

they are already here and living in Miami!

Wouldn't you if you could?

Wouldn't you want to also?

Imagine yourself in the Cadillac

…you never knew you wanted…

Believe me!

I saw it on Murdock's Network Panacea this morning!

Every Episode is now available on Blu-Ray DVD

with Bonus Features and Short Subjects!

and Cool enough to include

Chapter Selections and Out-takes!

~

What will we loose this time as the End-Age whimpers

for the Middle there may never be?

Thank OUR GOD I am musically challenged;

I won't even attempt to play the violin.

Even when I have the urge

to purge or blog about it.

~

I have no idea who to vote for at this point…

Whatever happens next the law says:

The Cheerleader must go

whether he wants to or not

Anyone know how to play the violin?

I'll give you my vote for old times sake

then we can all sing along

and follow The Bouncing Candidate!

~

I'm so disgusted, I would go live with the Penguin's

but paradise is crowded with vacationers now

So I'll just sit here, writing and watching

the weeds die in the road leaving only cracks

as The Aqueducts fall prey to the New World Order

humming to myself in memory of The Bee's

marching numbly, blind as a bat's carcass'

eaten by Guano and Oxalates

on the cave floor of 5th Century Democratic apathy

a posit of unnecessary grace

~

Don't kid yourself, the panacea is prevalent and your poetry is proof!

its lack of fame condemns this age

I would print this out on acid free paper

place it in a sealed vault in the mountains

but that I'm afraid it might become Canon

to some L'enfant terrible Civilization

~

This side of the Volga is the place to be for now,

the Vandals know!

Patrick! Patrick! Where are you today?

…lend me your skinned skiff

I'll paddle home gladly to your adopted Island

and try to be fearless in the face of God

When he comes to call and reads the Good Spell

out-loud while you play fiddle in the slower Antrim style

~

I Graduated from The Junior "Collage" of Apathy TWICE!

I am an educated watcher with diplomas to prove it

When my living Civilization dies

of late Antiquarian Sisyphean Boulder Shouldering

I know how to shrug it off…

but If Augustine can confess so too can I!

…I don't wish give this world to my children…

I believe as Julian did; and Pelagius said it best

only good deeds and rigorous asceticism can save us now…

~

Play that Fiddle White Boy! Play!

Wade in the Guano! Your World is Tumbling Down!

Follow the bouncing Candidate; record it all on TiVo

so your descendants can watch it from their bunkers

Someone threw your fiddle in the Guano man!

…the birds on the middle panel of your triptych are singing at last…

~

It's taken 7 years for me to mention 9/11 in a poem

I've been busy working for change

Rigorously

I'm tired of good works and Good Spells

So you tell me… Who the Fuk are you going to vote for?

I'm done with marching, its time to pray.

obeedúid~

07/May/08