Dented Souls

Out of alignment, bent and maybe a bit off-center

Scratched, used and badly in need of being trued

Rolling like dinged hubcaps mounted crookedly upon wobbly wheels

Always pulling towards the side of the dusty roads they travel

Dented souls with heavy parts sliding around inside when you turn them over

Fractured souls poorly splinted up using broken dreams and lame excuses

Lacerated souls oozing a clear morality into the dirty gutters

Bruised and contused, swelling and stiffening up

Souls grown bent from facing an eternal wind of dogmatic religious propaganda

Layers of grease built up on their undersides from long years on the roads

Rusting, unused souls in our institutions and cemeteries

Souls slowly turning to stone at a rate we cannot sense

Abraded beyond their working tolerance, they squeak and complain

Sagging souls still carrying far too much commercial traffic

Used and recycled, gradually losing the elasticity of their spirituality

Souls with broken and missing parts that won’t boot up no more

Lost souls found at last, spinning slowly in quiet, forgotten eddies

Cut deeply into by sharp objects on their tender and sensitive surfaces

Corroding under decades of the musty-smelling sediments of tears

Splintered souls with sharp and nasty looking edges

Squeaking, un-lubricated social joints and broken shock absorbers

Failing cooling systems and batteries that cannot hold a charge

Souls eviscerated and left to dry oiut in a hot wind, under a merciless sun

Crooked going gnarled, forgetful heading towards dementia

Dropped and cracked souls, not thrown away but likewise, never fixed or used

Fuses blown and then simply removed and live wires twisted together

Dusty souls with grime embedded into cracked surface joints

Attacked by parasites and pestered by noisy, biting charlatans

Mass-produced to last ‘forever’ without any provision for maintenance or repair

Clogged, narrowed and constricted and without any warranty

Factory-sealed but broken open to expose the non-user serviceable parts within

Bloated souls decomposing at the high tide mark on cosmic desert islands

This Ain’t No Boating Accident

This ain’t no tv game show

We won’t be back after some brief message

You won’t need no pain relief

Don’t bother getting up for another beer

this ain’t no traffic incident

oh, we’re way past the last exit ever

go ahead and drink and drive

no need to watch the gas gauge

this ain’t no office party

don’t need no burgers, chips or beer

forget about the sexy secretaries

go ahead and wax your boss

this ain’t no tango lesson

you won’t step on no one’s feet

don’t worry about your shoes

for this will cure that loneliness

this ain’t no drinking binge

don’t bother to swear off again

there won’t be nothing you can’t remember

you’ll never have another hangover

this ain’t no clearance sale

you can’t save no extra money

you can just ignore them newer ads

you got much more than you’ll need

this ain’t no dream vacation

don’t try and fit in that new bikini

you might as well kick way back

the flight home never can arrive

this ain’t no midnight snack

you don’t need to hold the anchovies

you won’t get gas in the night

you can’t gain no more weight

this ain’t no boating accident

jesus ain’t tossing you no lifeline

you can’t drown and you can’t swim

you can’t breathe the air or the water

this ain’t no household chore

you can’t hide out in the garage

there’s nobody gonna nag you

there ain’t no mess to be cleaned up

this ain’t no bible study group

that red ribbon won’t hold your place

you ain’t got a psalm to stand on

you won’t testify in the void

this ain’t no boring family picnic

they won’t pass you jello salad

don’t have to kiss some aunt’s hairy chin

they won’t even have to leave you alone

this ain’t no gambling junket

you don’t need to find a stake

forget about free meals in deluxe hotel suites

you ain’t the one who holds the dice

this ain’t no old folks home

don’t try to stay awake for the kids

you don’t need to roll outside

they’ll come get you in your bed

this ain’t no petty insult

don’t get all like quiet and pissy

no need to act like we’re not here

you won’t know you’re all alone

this ain’t no drug support group

it don’t matter if you’re clean and sober

there ain’t another day to take one at a time

don’t have to introduce yourself as an abuser

this ain’t no friggin camping trip

won’t be roasting any weenies

don’t worry about the sleeping bags

don’t even be afraid of the bears

this ain’t no weekly department meeting

don’t bother fabricating any fairytales

can’t use no visual aids

sucking up ain’t gonna help

this ain’t no kiddies bad dream

you can’t hide beneath the covers

nobody’s gonna come when you cry

the monster’s finally gonna get you

this ain’t no benefit dinner

they won’t seek a financial commitment

you won’t be eatin any rubber chicken

not gonna listen to no inspiring speakers

this ain’t no anger management class

we ain’t sorting out your issues

no need to be aware of your body’s signals

you won’t rage and scream or shout no more

this ain’t no construction detour

you ain’t getting back on the freeway

don’t even look for no street signs

it’s gotten way too dark to read

this ain’t no gaming getaway

you won’t need your extra credit card

it’s all going on your tab

you got nothing anybody wants no more

this ain’t no sports report

it’s all about your failing vital signs

it’s almost time for kick off

just maybe you could lift your head

this ain’t no Baptist revival

brother, you can’t hear Him call

judgment day’s been postponed for good

and jesus don’t know jack about it

this ain’t no birthday cake

it ain’t sweet but it’s stale

nobody’s singing happy birthday

them so-called presents ain’t for you

this ain’t no border crossing

don’t bother to try and sneak across

you got no valid papers

you ain’t goin out and you ain’t getting in

this ain’t no Lotto drawing

all them balls got your number

here’s a wad of free tickets

don’t even scratch ‘em, you’re already a winner

this ain’t no commercial message

they ain’t selling nothing here

you won’t hear no cheery jingles

you won’t need no persuading

this ain’t no final interview

don’t bother dressing up

no need to smile and flash your résumé

you’re already ensured a position

this ain’t no military operation

you won’t even need your weapons

you ain’t been trained to get through this

you ain’t got no squad to fight with

this ain’t no wedding reception

you can’t get drunk and spoil her day

don’t matter if you don’t got no ring

this won’t qualify as a honeymoon

this ain’t no family garage sale

leave your junk in the closets

don’t bother laying stuff out real nice

nobody wants that shit, no how

this ain’t no natural disaster

god ain’t smiting them heathen again

stay out of the basement shelter

they’re already tagging your dead body

The Rhythms Of Wandering

Twilight scouting out another quiet place

Untying our knotted hiking laces

Calling of the morning birds

Arising slowly amid a trickling peace

Well-used wool sweater, safe and warm

Our old dog, thick and furly

Quiet Fall mornings strung like amber beads

The warm smell of crusty new bread baking

Simple joy of your soft brown eyes

Breathing gently through restful sleep

Catching sight of forest dwellers

Changing tools and rhythms to make them better

Sloughing off our unused burdens

Sensing the complicated in the simple

Sleeping deeply in big tree shadows

Hearing small creek again as we awaken

Freed at last of choking specialization

Coming slowly together with the dawn,

Neither at work nor on vacation

Traveling widely yet always home

Mending socks and fixing breakdowns

Finding water and planning meals

Picking up yet another’s trash

Retiring early, safe in the darkness

Drying happily in a sunny breeze

Looking forward to our own cooking

Watching bees work on autumn flowers

Lingering where we really like it

Sipping wine and making music

My Most Black Swan Dreams

Black Swan - an unpredictable or unforeseen event, typically one with extreme consequences

If I could apologize to everyone I should, I’d gladly take all the time that I would need

Should there be a way for me to find just a little grace, you can bet that I would surely seek it

Give me but the time to practice a bit of mercy and I would become quite accomplished

If there was a way to thank all those helping me so invisibly, why, I would do it publicly

If I could stop my organic wastes from ever again polluting, you can bet I would

If it could only be, I would not generate any more plastic trash

Were there another way, my car would not belch a single molecule of CO2

If it were possible, these soaps and creams of ours would not harm those graceful fish

If I could stem our swarming, destructive overpopulation, why you know, I just might

I would gladly ban the wasteful, foolish, childlike religious practice known as war

I could happily do without soulless widgets of factory holocaust meat, given tasty alternatives

If possible, I would even turn off every wasteful, paranoid night light, just to see the stars

I would generate my own clean power right at home, given a real opportunity

If I never had to commute to work again, that would suit me just fine

Where can I buy but things not made by far off wage slaves working 14 hour days?

If I could make the choice, my lawn would not be merely an expensive, wasteful, poisonous carpet

If I could only make it so, I would decree that my greed become quite a bit less wasteful

With the right opportunity, I could possibly gain just a touch of humility

Given half a chance, I would tax all forms of noise above a certain decibel

If I would ever run for office, no one else but me would be writing my speeches

If someone like me could become a tabloid star, this would not be the world that we know so well

Should I get elected, neither party nor lobbyist would get to call my dancing tune

When I would finally stop trying to be different, I could start to make a real difference

If I could give up everything, I might finally see how much excess I actually have

If there was a way, I would stop up my lame complaining with a little real work

Should the greedy not take such cynical advantage, I could volunteer more time

You would see a different person if I could just view things in a different light

If I could shed my love of violence, I might find some small trace of tranquility within

If we knew our fathers, generations back, perhaps we would not scorn all the elders

Should I actually find something to say at last, I might lose my fear of silence

Given a new religion, I would put my vast but unused reservoir of faith to some good use

If I had some real reasons, I could dispense with all of my half-baked excuses

If it were just left up to me, I would try and slow this fleeting blur

If I could but begin again, I’m certain I could correct all the errors of my pride and folly

If I finally became conscious, I’d undo all the damage I have so thoughtlessly brought forth

If I lost my voice but had learned but a single song, I bet I could hum it silently, forever

Vagabond Koans (1)

West Slope Sierra

Utterly impressed by their sheer size

They made sure they could cut them down

Now only giant stumps lay decomposing

neither logging nor tourist jobs remain

………

in the land of milk and honey, organic internet

there are still small towns with real people

where a young man might make a living for a family

while thirty million thirsty souls swarm the smoggy cities

………

basso profundo pickup truck

shatters peaceful predawn stillness

dumbass rumble at last dissipates

merciful silence refills his empty space

………

in the creaking breeze awaiting,

the stroke of god in the sunlight

bursting out with pregnant silence

mere sequoia emitting oxygen and grace

………

buying wood for the metal campfire ring

to cook the trout dumped from a truck

locked safely within his mobile modular

behold the happy camper

………

warm against the autumn frost

quiet there beside the lake

soaking in that radiant silence

full moon sets at nearly dawn

………

still gurgling over polished autumn granite

slurping into holes and eddies

sierra stream carries on its business

and then the reservoir

………

from out the wide smog-choked, dusty central valley

sheer sierra wilderness rises to catch the snow

the big trees and bigger mountains soar

barely beyond it spreads that awful desert

Long After One More Lost Holiday

Coming back from some long lost weekend or another,

You asked me did I remember such and such or so and so

It was from a time in a place that I had previously long awaited

But it took me a while to dredge up a couple jumbled recollections

Then I tried to remember the distinct holidays from different years

But there was no ordered collection with little notes and titles on their spines

There was this hazy blur from which things sometimes arose,

Like fish rising from the depths of murky moving water

All those highly-anticipated, well-orchestrated life events gone by

Full of joy and recreation, people and relaxation,

Now tumbled about on my rough journey in a worn out box of memories

Events and details mixed up forever, far beyond any disentanglement

After the holiday, came the realization of the once again onrushing ordinary

I never had time to unpack and to file our time together

It quickly disappeared in our daily wake, right along with your suntan

Sometimes I found its artifacts as I cleaned out the garage

For some reason or whatever we ask each other

Where were we on that Labor Day, three years ago

I could not remember what we had done

You did not recall where we had stayed

The kids do not remember all those special places that we took them

Your mother died 5 years ago asking for you to go and bring you to her

I find another page of recollections that I give up trying to put in order

We both draw blanks and we just look back through each other’s eyes

After the holiday, as I awaken, before the first visit of my morning nurse

They'll Ignore You

They’ll annoy you without conscious effort and then tell you it’s none of your business

They’ll step on your face with a condescending smirk while clawing their way to the top

They’ll throw shit on the ground when no one is around and then just drive away

They’ll make gasoline-powered noise to blot out the good silence that makes them feel uneasy

They’ll throw up cheap crap on good land, make quick bucks and then leave town for good

They’ll call you when you’ve had an accident and then drive up in another new leased BMW

They’ll pimp real estate to gullible strangers like a mother bird feeds her tiny chick

They’ll ignore the homeless as they drive by every day behind their tinted windows

They’ll act righteous beneath their fascist, literalist, fairytale personal saviors

They’ll spout gibberish and call for soundbite political debates with real scientists

They’ll carry their canned, evaporated culture far from home and never see a thing

They’ll piss you off with their thoughtless waste without ever even knowing it

They’ll shame you to the civilized world with all their ignorant, macho, cowboy posturing

They’ll spend thousands to go hunting but demand that all forests return a profit

They’ll blithely support resource extraction ignoring any and all of its long term costs

They’ll call birth control a sin but use the excess ignorant as their contract wage slaves

They’ll never walk anywhere outside except to shiny vehicles parked closely nearby

They’ll mouth the nonsense of televangelists and conservative think tank analysts

They’ll work diligently on their pathetic golf games on grass that’s a toxic green

They’ll take pride in an ignorance knowingly pitched to them as tough, manly and rugged

They’ll no longer require your services once you have called them on their charade

They’ll spoil and ignore their lazy children but blame their failures on poor schools

They’ll unknowingly waste more every hour than most people earn in a month

They’ll demand ever more criminally wasteful military money and call it patriotism

They’ll support our troops with plastic bumper stickers on their sleek imported cars

They’ll subsidize terrorists with hard cash every time they fill-up at the gas pump

They’ll idle their 300 hp engines to serve as personal room air-conditioners

They’ll go out for expensive meals prepared and served by the angry working poor

They’ll refinance all of our futures and every one of us will have to pay

They’ll drive to the wilderness and run loud generators to watch action DVDs

They’ll ignore you and get up way too close then start making lots of noise

They’ll always know lots about the latest bright and shiny consumer fad

They’ll take tax-deductible ski vacations with their corporate mega-churches

They’ll get tough on crime but cheat on their taxes and shortchange their illegal workers

They’ll be concerned for their security and burn bright lights which also blot out all the stars

They’ll call for roads to eliminate congestion and immediately crowd them with tacky shit

They’ll bulldoze native plants then spend enormous sums maintaining toxic, artificial lawns

They’ll cut your throat behind your back using canned & coded corporate PC catchphrases

They’ll twist the words they put in your mouth and then put them to use against you

They’ll advertise for proactive self-starters who must also be good team players

They’ll produce elaborate fictional schedules as they socialize in their meetings

They’ll forget your name should they ever be unable to avoid meeting you face to face

They’ll espouse a laissez-faire evangelical Social Darwinism fueled only by their shortsighted greed

They’ll copyright your handmade ideas and cheaply manufacture them overseas

They’ll change lanes impatiently over and over, angrily saving even more wasted time

They’ll make sure everybody in the office thinks they work 12 hours every day

They’ll be full of friendly smalltalk and jovial smiles when their boss happens by

They’ll mouth free enterprise while lobbying for their own tariffs, subsidies and tax breaks

They’ll dismiss your ideas out of hand while endlessly quoting their gutless, invisible leaders

They’ll drive up your property taxes and then buy you out to make a quick profit

They’ll sell you on personal responsibility but control your very bowel movements

They’ll rule as corporate control freaks but then plead complete ignorance to company crimes

They’ll pay vapid fast-talking salesmen princely sums to pimp their useless products

They’ll get fat bonuses and stock options for their, unfortunately, immeasurable contributions

They’ll cut your benefits, eliminate your position and renege on your retirement

They’ll purchase influence and legislation to insure their own continued success

They’ll rend the very fabric of the living world and belittle you for not putting people first

They’ll always chant of costs in jobs and money over environmental and safety concerns

They’ll pass you at full noisy throttle then brake hard to turn off at the very next corner

They’ll eat the pus-like middle of their white bread and then toss the phony crust aside

They’ll speak of a love of peace while subsidizing their weapons-making donors with no-bid contracts

They’ll pray to a god who rationalizes all of their greedy and short-sighted actions

They’ll glowingly praise democracy while buying up votes and peddling their influence

They’ll ignore you completely until it might cost them a bit of power or just a little money

As Darkness Fell We Held Each Other

There was no one there that I could talk to

But hoarse shouting assailed me from all directions

The evidence was simply overwhelming

Still I thrashed about for any faintest clues

The stakes were already quite high but we all stayed in

I lost nothing but my worthless and failing pride

It looked like the rain would not stop falling

We were surprised and then shoved outside

Before the bridge broke it gave no warning

We sat and talked throughout the morning

Pretty soon we always hurried

When they were quite late we began to worry

We never guessed that we were lost

For it seemed we always headed somewhere

There was time to spare as the days grew longer

Then we awoke to cold and dark November

Kept on playing as darkness fell

Tucked them in before I left

Remembered all their lives so well

Now I’m only talking to myself

Watched the leaves fall from the trees

In those windstorms, I too lost branches

Caught up to clouds and their rain began

Missed many details since I always ran

Colors faded with the approach of night

My hair stood up from unseen demons

Felt my chest grow too damn tight

Lost silly dreams of getting even

Saw myself on the surgeon’s table

Kept on thinking I saw some light

Left well enough alone had I been able

Knew only I must awaken in the night

We sat close together as sunset faded

Nothing spoken passed between us

In your brown eyes I saw why I was created

We held each other close as darkness gathered

No Need To Protest Once They're Done

It’s hard for them to miss what they were too young to have ever seen

There’s just no sense in protecting anything that’s been gone so long already

Once they’ve disappeared there’s no need to fight over their extinction

Won’t have to try and save it if it was bulldozed so many years ago

There’s no point in boycotting that new Wal*Mart once the doors are open

Ain’t no way to stop this self-destructive process that we know simply and surely as progress

They aren’t going to get worked up over your old and faded pictures

It won’t matter anymore, anyway, when nobody else remembers

Once it’s been so hot for a hundred years no one alive will know any better

Just bulldoze those native artifacts and keep the work on schedule

Soon you won’t even be able to imagine how this all was before we came

They’ll say, ‘There’s no way you could have ever swam in this awful river’

No need now to preserve what’s been paved beneath this parking lot

Who cares that, over there, was where we used to keep our horses

Won’t make a bit of difference anyway, after a couple million years

No sense in arguing after all the trees are cut

Anyway, there’s still a few of them left, over at the zoo

Don’t have to file suit now since that marsh has been all drained

Forget about the bag limits, all the good fish are gone and the rest are full of poison

Why, they never even took the time to listen to all them songbirds, anyhow

No need for public hearings once it’s been graded flat and all paved over

It’s probably just always been really noisy around here, in any case

Can’t let the bears live too near our kids in their happy new backyards

It’s hard for them to try and restore what they neither created nor destroyed

Once we’ve broken ground there’s never any more objections

So, what actually was the point, in the way it was before

No way that this was ever just quiet rural farmland, in any case

When we are done, nobody will even listen to those squishy whiners

They won’t fight for things now gone, so far beyond their imaginations

Once we’re done extracting, there’s no profit whatsoever in restoration

Now that there’s this new road through here, why not add just a strip mall alongside?

After that, some cheap apartments over there won’t make any difference, anyhow

It’s gonna happen one way or another, so might as well get in on the money

They can fix up their little yards if they really need to try and make a difference

Now that it’s gone it’s just some NewAge fairytale to be dismissed with raucous, scornful laughter

No need to get offended now, it’s all been settled in accordance with our laws and tradition

Vagabond Koans (2)

A Sierra Weekend

struck me as quite amazing

almost made me stop and think

took that moment between two breaths

to come back to good common sense

………

under strict orders they toiled thru the days

driven on by critical deadlines

lives anxious with meaning, lay awake at night

moving holes from one spot to another

………

lovely turnout with short trail to the overlook

stepping free of the vehicular cocoon

attaining the uplifting vista point without a real effort

satori moment digitally marked and the soft drink can

………

in battered cars they roam in old and dirty clothes

living off the fruitful grace of the land

shitting where they sleep and moving on again

ugly, old and noisy children, left out on their own

………

full of piss and vinegar they come

loudly announcing a strong and musky presence

breaking branches and dropping rocks

young men stride the forest like your average mall

………

stream that cut rock a million years

spoke to me for just one moment

telling me the entire story

and I could merely sigh in wonder

………

Far away even before they leave

Recreation quickly once more forgotten

Blur of packing and fast driving

On an almost Monday, once again

………

We moved between sunlight and shadow

the river changing sides

While another afternoon gave way

As that autumn passed on by

Lost or merely wandering aimlessly?

After a while you start to think you probably should be getting somewhere

Signs should at least begin to appear now and again on the horizon

Maybe you might see a mileage marker or, why not even a billboard?

You’d think after all of these years some sort of outline would begin to emerge

Perhaps now that your kids are gone some of the constant turbidity will settle out at last

We might turn back but it seems like a one-way that only crosses dirt tracks leading nowhere

Though it’s starting to get real dark, I think that this may be the trail that I might still be seeing

It’s not safe to hurry but we don’t know what time things close up around here

Maybe that was the right turn off, but now it’s way too far back to turn around

Our difficulty increases because we don’t speak the language and we have no map

After a while you’d think they’d have at least an occasional road marker

I finally gave up looking for signs at every fork in the trail and stuck to my gut

It’s too hot to travel during the day and far too misleading in the night

I’m finding it difficult to transition from being lost to merely wandering aimlessly

I wondered just when I would have enough time saved that I would not have to hurry

With the passing of the years I grow anxious to spy at last a heretofore unknown goal

We kept thinking we were almost there but could not ever really tell for sure

Too late we tried in vain to remember if we’d forgotten to do this or to pay that

When it finally stopped raining, the damp wind kept us cold but did not get us dry

I think now I need to go back over the scanty evidence looking for some new clues

After a long while I learned more from my dreams than from the books that I read

Arriving tired and dirty I kind of thought I probably had already seen this latest new sight

After a short rest we prepared to push on again despite our growth of misgivings

In a cove sheltered from the wind and waves we tried to regain our bearings

Finally, one day, the old dog just laid down beside the road and could not rise again

After months we realized the differences between vacationing and traveling

Once we were utterly lost there came signs to unknown places in all directions

The road I had firmly stuck to turned into a pigtrack and at last petered out in an arroyo

The one radio station we could get was broadcasted only unintelligible grunts and whistles

Later on, the children came out in every village just to witness the white strangers

At last we simply kept on going not really knowing anything better to do

If I only had but another battery I’m sure my GPS might get us safely on our way…

Criminal Capitalist Success Stories

I sold worthless disaster insurance policies at decaying trailer parks filled with meth labs

My business was chemical disposal but we just dumped the stuff in the woods at night

We bought the insurance policies of desperate cancer victims for pennies on the dollar

Our factory made baby formula from arsenic-tainted well water laced with melamine and chalk

I relieved them of their hard-earned cash by simply playing to their overwhelming greed

I knew about the 300 houses to be built right next door but the good family buyers did not ask

We bought condos with no down payment, rented them out and never paid back a cent

We sealed them in cargo ship freight containers and warned them not to make a sound

I made his martyr video for Allah but somehow the explosive vest detonated early, killing only him

Our miracle fat melting pill sold well until the feds forced us to close down and start over once again

We came up with a clear liquid that we claimed increased gas mileage by 40%

They outlawed exporting raw timber so we just shaved the bark and kept shipping it right on out

I profited selling off tracts in the country’s first national park after all the lumber had been removed

We stole the identities of the homeless whose beating deaths got a paragraph in the paper

We would trick old women into signing house notes that they could never hope to repay

People loved the specials I stirred up using puppies I got for free from the Lost and Found

I specialized in scraping huge fees from other people’s pain and suffering settlements

My firm contracted out insiders and ex-legislators to lobby for any cause that would pay us

We recruited the street corner illegales and shorted them at least 20% every day

We built giant SUVs, ORVs and dirt bikes and proudly said that’s what the people wanted

We made fortunes as military contractors as our government ginned up terrible enemies

We made vast sums on credit cards, steering consumers into negative savings rates

I profited greatly acting as a middleman for those desperate enough to sell their internal organs

We sold patriotic plastic decal flags made at toxic-vapor-filled sweatshops overseas

We moved our 50 year old company’s headquarters to Bermuda to save on taxes

We closed and abandoned our domestic factories leaving behind poisoned messes

We entered bankruptcy so we could renege on all our pension and bond obligations

We outsourced all our production to China but jealously guarded our American brand name

We worked them 14 hours per day for six days every week

We crammed them 20 to a room without any running water

They were exposed to every kind of poisonous industrial chemical there was

We paid off the local officials to allow us to continue dumping every night

We set their goals and just took the profits and later denied any knowledge at our trials

I had another credit card so I kept on playing knowing that my luck would change

Once they declared us too big to fail we knew we were still in the driver’s seat

Our merger formula always included layoffs, benefit cuts, offshoring and fat bonuses for us

I was drinking heavily and could not hold an honest job but then father paid my way into politics

We charged them $1500 to help them with their debts and never talked to them again

I kept my whores high and pimped them until they grew too sickly and unattractive

We did 4 or 5 pyramid schemes and bought a Hummer to pull our big new speed boat

I misappropriated all their donations and blamed it on the fundamentalist insurgents

She would not sleep with me so I had her fired and had them deny her unemployment

My lawyer told them that I welcomed the opportunity to prove my innocence

Industry supporters drafted me a statement calling for further study, which we never did

They had me label them as dead-enders and we continued passing out fat arms contracts

We enriched the dictators as long as they allowed our donors to export their resources

We all made big money ruining their lives with these fancy mortgage derivative schemes

His widow paid me to handle the details so I collected his checks and used up all his credit

Population growth assured us cheap unskilled labor to maintain our artificial prosperity

We became rich heroes burying the country’s best farmland beneath sweatshop factories

We produced nothing but poisonous, throwaway plastic shit, all of it strictly for export

It was cheaper to pay off local officials than to comply with the new environmental regulations

I paid them pennies for their hand work and exhorted them to be proud of their great culture

We hopped gleefully aboard clean energy by re-branding our coal strip-mining solution as green

We had them call for market-driven healthcare but made them disallow volume discounts

We sold their trusting asses guaranteed annuities backed by nothing but our empty advertising

We flooded their valley villages for UN funded hydro but they sold the power to foreign lands

I labeled them as terrorists and split up the aid funds from the CIA among my cronies

We set up customer support so that everyone waited at least 5 minutes, hearing horrible music

We avoided regulation, ran amok and then secured no-string bailouts by blackmailing the markets

We were able to deny responsibility by noting that we had outsourced foreign ingredients

We produced overseas, saving big with fairly good quality and hardly raised our prices

We prospered putting more into advertising and doctor payoffs than researching new drugs

Somehow I landed this cushy liaison job at Exxon-Mobil after my stint over at the EPA

It was sheer genius to call for Personal Responsibility after the layoffs and benefit cancellations

We found that soft music and images of children worked for arms producers as well as candidates

We profited greatly from a green ad campaign, muted packaging and a 25% price increase

We had our political lackeys denounce it as junk science and halt regulation for more research

Our foreign-flagged fleet strip-mined the oceans but our ads showed frolicking dolphins

We convinced them we required massive yearly bonuses to avoid total financial meltdown

We advertised that we fed the world as we drove small farmers to bankruptcy and suicide

I retired rich to my locked compound and supervised the writing of my wise and folksy memoirs

They Win But We're Not Playing

They’ll cash in big, real soon now, on real estate, hot stocks or maybe even gold

We never gamble, don’t buy new cars and so very rarely even go out for dinner

They still spend more than they earn on things they casually ruin, then quickly discard

We saved enough to retire early but we continue buying their new castoffs at the thrift stores

Five days a week and fifty weeks a year they toil in nondescript obscurity

We’re making more than that on just the interest from our nerdy savings

Got to have that flash new sports sedan and the latest giant whatever screen TV

We live large and free driving old cars among them - And they do not even see us

Chained to credit cards and mortgages, their spoiled children act as a heavy ballast

It’s so nice to be debtless and not even have any rent to pay…except for health insurance

They march at precise and artificial angles laid out by simpering project managers

Finally cast aside for good, our days of narrow specialization are done at last

Heading up and moving out on all those weekends which are so quickly forgotten

We spend months wandering this land, often just trying hard simply to avoid their herds

Loading up on lattes, Big Gulps, and drive-thrus they spend freely and grow fat

We buy the good stuff raw and cook it up ourselves, while sipping an inexpensive tea

They get real work done on their cells even while languishing for hours in endless traffic jams

Our slow pace infuriates them on their busy ways to their latest very important tasks

Their children cannot read or write despite all their attentions and the latest in meds

We wonder every day at the shabbier world their parents are de-constructing for them

They get news between commercials and their opinions are spun from clever sound bites

We spit out media pellets like our dogs cough out the bitter pills we place into their food

They save a lot at Wal*Mart while imports rise in proportion to jobs disappearing

We find that which lasts, even in the modern world, still remains the best

They push each other’s buttons to get their readouts on phony litmus issues

We play acting like we really care about either side of their deliberately false choices

Living for today was always real exciting but what do they remember now?

The fast times they enjoy have passed us by at last and we are not sad to see them gone

They are happy being spoon-fed their fundamentalist, evangelical beliefs

We are free to contemplate the terrible emptiness that approaches so very fast

They love fireworks, making noise and the excitement of crowds of clones

We search for peaceful quiet places, trying to fit in without making a mess

They eagerly suckle on all the pious bullshit RE: ‘ThE greatest country on the planet’

Now we hide our passports in shame traveling to places they cannot find on maps

They strive so hard to make their unique mark within the confines of the herd

We regularly get the crap kicked out of us by them for being a little different

Their rights include free clean air, unlimited good water from their taps and cheap garbage removal

We see what people in upstream places pour back for the towns down below them to enjoy

In their constrained view it’s animals and trees versus people, jobs and our sacred way of life

We are cursed by the belief that we are destroying the very web of life that supports our society

Ancient, ignored and irrelevant history slides along, an ancient 10 to 15 years behind them

We consider some of our thoughts in light of the estimated age of the universe

Theirs is satisfaction in fertilized, poisoned, over-watered factory bluegrass

We look to experience climax forests with their food chains entirely intact

They want either money from the government or the right to kill any wolf they see

We want their welfare cattle to stop abusing our federal lands for next to nothing

They search for the cheapest factory foods, never mind its manner of production

We want to eat cleanly, morally and sustainably and will gladly pay a little more to do it

They never miss reality shows, packaged corporate ‘big games’ or special presentations

We found if you ignore them, such bees quickly stop buzzing between your ears

They idle their SUVs in air-conditioned comfort awaiting their fast food orders

We try to find the shade when it’s hot and stir up something cool to drink

Their patriotic acceptance of our dEfense costs us nearly a trillion, every year

We see no justification in spending more than all rest of the countries combined

They feel safe driving overpriced, inefficient dinosaurs designed to wear out quickly

We enjoy our tiny fuel-efficient cars, full of gizmos and very comfortable

Make theirs quick, hyper-sweetened, greasy-fat-laden and heavily caffeinated

We’ll have the more subtle, smaller, whole-grain, homemade portions, please

They pursue angry recreation in noisy, smoggy, devastating gas-powered toys

We hike, swim, ski, surf, kayak, board - And can still hear our surroundings

Theirs is a world of backbiting, political intrigues and private boardroom schemes

Our quiet search of self-discovery reveals the destruction spreading out about their footprints

Their god commands they conquer the land and treat its creatures in any way they deem fit

Our beliefs tend towards mutual survival within largely intact ecosystems

They feel safe behind locked doors within brightly-lit, gated and patrolled communities

We camp alone in empty places and draw peace from the starry stillness

Their god moves about in his mysterious and fundamentalist ways

Our god has no will or message and neither watches over nor awaits us

They leave a tattered, overpopulated world to their very special children

We blew off reproduction in protest of their vast and thoughtless destruction

They plaster their faces, get botoxed and send their poodles off to the spas

We push aside most of their designer castoffs pawing through the thrift stores

Their new 300 horsepower SUV gives them a sense of pride and security

Our aging Japanese economy cars simply make more sense to us

They flaunt their financed luxuries in hopes all the world will be impressed

We hide our wealth and travel like burnt-out gypsies on pilgrimages to real experiences

They look away when they meet us walking, say in the grocery store

We try to ignore them in their idling mortgaged cars, talking noisily on their phones

Their giant empty second homes are where their families might someday gather

Our persistence retains the access to the public lands they are trying to fence off

Their children fuel the market for garishly colored cereal shot through with sugar

Cheap hot dogs and pus-like white buns would go bad if it were only us buying

They have rolled more long term credit card debt into their houses than they are worth

We sold our place before their greedy speculative bubble began to pop

Their taste for excitement, color, noise and crowds keeps their senses full

Our search for quiet peace and tranquility always begins with avoiding them

They sternly lecture everyone that maintenance of the economy must come first

We just don’t see how this wasteful circus could play on for a thousand years

They control the human landscape and to them so-called progress is quite inevitable

We will be extinguished due to their actions, right along beside them

The Siren Call To Arms

Those who lead us so bravely into war never seem to carry any weapons

Those forced to do the dying never had a quarrel with those they are told to kill

Merchants profiting, go dressed as patriots and keep their children safe at home

Society must fill the youth who might refuse them with the guilt of cowardly traitors

Politicians call upon the lord to bless us in our righteous struggle with the heathen

Mothers sigh and shake their heads as they wipe away their bitter tears

Propaganda tells of our great victories and of enemies who would eat our children

Crippled soldiers return lost and mortally embittered by the pursuit of duty’s glory

The military is instructed to keep the flag-draped coffins away from the public’s eyes

Thus does every small town come to realize, that only its heroes come home in caskets

Leaders demand support for their false causes so that our fallen sons do not die in vain

The alienated lament the sacrifices made for the mere vanity of those in charge

Younger brothers eagerly await the day they can proudly join the elder sons

A father’s cautionary tale cannot be heard for the media’s call to explosive glory

Unquestioned annual increases pile upon already utterly unimaginable military spending

Unlike welfare, only the unpatriotic ask for a reckoning as to where dEfense money goes

Complicit religious leaders praise our cause and lead us in sponsored prayer for our troops

A pitifully small minority foolishly appeal to mercy, love, reason and understanding

Conservative elected officials abhor the gloom and doom claptrap of that liberal media

Their own hand-crafted stories are, however, often exposed as clumsy pre-fabrications

We are told of vast, loose but well-organized networks of highly-trained enemies

We see only a few dirty bearded men in tire sandals dragged from 3^rd world slums and caves

Our path is foolish, arrogant, badly-planned and stubbornly incorrect

They preach that we cannot afford the just consequences of their own immoral stupidity

We are told dissent over ill-conceived and shortsighted policies gives aid to our enemies

But, that our self-anointed exceptionism provides us a strong moral armor going forward

Squishy, feminine calls for peace have been marginalized into the ridiculous

They have finally sown a hardy hatred and disrespect for us, throughout the entire world

But you’ll be better fathers and husbands for having seen terrified children maimed

They’ll ask if you killed terrorists and you’ll see their frightened faces once again

You won’t talk much about it because others wouldn’t understand

Why you’ll probably even work hard to end this vile practice of war, I am quite sure

Vagabond Koans (3)

The Hi-tech Seaside Ratrace

Tearing out fenceposts and chopping down billboards

Overturning gas pumps and upsetting microwaves

Throwing down cell androids and smashing new iPhones

Dreaming again, I awake feeling refreshed

………

The president is to address the nation

Mass media picks up the proper sound bites

His makeup is good and his tie is correct

Well he delivers those choice words of others

………

Fierce Renaissance corporate Amazon

Hard-driving executrix /Slash/ loving mother

Stalled in traffic with her electronic organizer

sips on her strong espresso thru a chiseled face

………

Feeling bottom, standing up, pitching over in a splintering crash

Spuming wall of white water rolls

Vaporous hissing rush up the sand

Another swell has arrived

………

Making rapid progress towards goals as yet unspecified

Hypnotized by the grand illusion shared by the hive

Ever storing up even more saved up time

Constant acceleration towards eternal oblivion

………

Cypress lapping predawn fog

Sound of waves from left to right

Silence oozes through the background

Time to be ready to be free

………

Master of the universe in yet another silver BMW

Possessed of many exotic baubles he cannot understand or afford

In an endless marketing loop of material-based self-actualization

Considers the smog-encumbered sunset, stalled again on the freeway

………

Snoring loud enough to wake us up

Deaf beyond alerting us

Farting and dream kicking the nights away

Dear old dogs, we love them so

There’s No Hiding From Our Own Advances

You’ll have to breathe what’s in the air to live more than about ten short minutes

You can’t avoid the dirty things smeared about as you fall towards the ground

There’s no real ignoring the poverty enjoyed by most everybody here

You’ll always have to hear the un-muffled trucks pounding by in their clumsy and ignorant glee

The jets will still be floating so far and wide above you, all so safe and clean

You must drink the water sometime, from a source that you will just have to trust

Unbidden solicitations will assault you, from all directions, at every moment

The food that you must eat to sustain you may poison you all at once, or over time

There’s no hiding from their bulldozers, earthmovers or giant noisy dump trucks

You can’t avoid the angry crowds from the swarming plague of overpopulation

This next upcoming pandemic will be an important milestone in your short time

You’ll experience the warmest years in recorded history, for the rest of your life

There will be a chance to contemplate the vehicles standing idle for lack of fuel

You can watch videos of empty factories for which they once destroyed good farmland

You will observe with amazement how quickly the skein of civilization can unravel

There’s no avoiding the filthy mud and yet there’s no way to clean your shoes

We can all learn to go to sleep dirty once again and wake up scratching and hungry

There’s no hiding from the all-pervasive propaganda of the competing cults of personality

You must endure the pounding of giant helicopter blades, far too close for comfort

His self-appointed representatives on here earth will drive His Will deep into your brain

Happiness will come much easier and center upon food, clothing and shelter

There’s no hiding from the toxic fugitive dust in any of our so-called great cities

You will be martyred in a jihad you do not understand for a promised place in some fuzzy heaven

Once the conglomerates have used you up, you will never work again

Watch as everything but military spending is pared back to next to nothing

Observe with incredulity the vast array of perverse crimes that make up the news

Don’t try to avoid every pothole or you’ll never get to where you must be going

There’s no hiding all your symptoms from the many problems you did not create

Dawn Patrol

In the quiet coolness of the early morning, it’s best not to rush around or lay asleep

In this brief interlude we can try to restore a certain measure of calm and levelheaded thinking

There’s lots of time when the sun is high to do more than a full day of work

But the early morning light is a precious thing of which there never is quite enough

As the end of night begins turning gray you can often even see right back into the past

A bit of fading sleep intoxication only adds to the wonder

Maybe a full moon still casts its own shadows, even after a pale December sunrise

In june the sky takes a while to fully waken because dawn comes so very early

You’ve got to stand outside first, just to be sure that all the stars are still in place

You must watch the colors slowly return with the advancing pre-dawn light

It is a waste of life’s best hour to hurry about blindly, just to get to work

This time is yours for contemplation, creation or some kind of meditation

The quiet hidden spring can be located before the noise of our folly fully resumes

The center of that large circle can be found and marked once again

The day of the week surely does not matter for this time always belongs only to you

There’s not yet need to shout to be heard or to concentrate hard just to form simple thoughts

In the early morning clarity, the foolishness of all their bullshit becomes quite apparent

muddied thoughts have cleared overnight to briefly reveal what’s important, once again

And there is no mistaking when it is over for another day

It’s not like our foolish jobs which never seem to end

Maybe you will hear the calling of the gulls, doves, roosters or the waking songbirds

Sometimes there are only answers and you must match up the proper questions

You cannot hurry it or slow it or save it but you can simply be there to enjoy it

There are daily lessons and inspirations in the quiet change from dark to light

There is no way to see it changing, but when you glance away, it becomes subtly different

Look inside and the gathering day gathers you up as well

In the quiet of the early morning you can remain very still but nonetheless grow quite alert

Shattering this peaceful calm is not a task that should be so commonplace for us, as human beings

I cannot reconstruct my tortured path

I cant even remember the holiday I anticipated so much just five years ago this week

I have forgotten most of their foolish causes but still vaguely recall my many rages

I barely recollect any those so very vital projects they had me work on way back then

But I do recall with fondness how often we laughed heartily as they squirmed

I don’t remember the many media events that I just could not miss

I know that I had been drinking but I don’t know what we did

I remember that we were there but not really where it was

I do not recall most of those people I see in all of your old pictures

But, my chosen memories grow ever stronger, the more that I use them

I would like to forget his blinding avarice and my unwitting cruelty

I cannot reconstruct my tortured path on this grotesquely twisted journey

It was not at all easy to notice when it started, since I turned this gray so very slowly

I do not remember where we were going but, yeah, I guess we did see that

We both just smile when they tell us that we have not changed at all

I’m not sure how we got there but I recall what we ate

You remember, it was raining, so we just sat there in the car

It takes several minutes to recite just those places where I lived

What was that expensive hobby that came and went so long ago

I have forgotten the gifts we gave each other throughout those hurried years

I don’t remember all those who kicked me down, heading for the top

His name was there just a moment ago, on the tip of my tongue

I have no idea of her name but recall the grace within her walk

Sometimes I awake not knowing if I only just arrived in this unfamiliar place

Though her memories fade, my grandmother often appears clearly in my dreams

I don’t remember the last thing she said that time just before I never saw her again

At least I have forgotten most of the shitheads who parroted stupid orders to us

I cannot understand why I routinely drank myself into an un-refreshing sleep

Yes, I remember the name of that place you’re talking about, but not a thing about it

I still remember the way you smelled in that dress you bought down in Mexico

Before a certain time I have no memories of any kind, good or bad

When I pass once more into the void there will be no more new memories made

And I still don’t know where the old ones will go when I no longer tend them

Hel-lo-o

Hel-lo-o, stubbornly staying on message is mere propagandizing, not holding the line on socialism

Slash the foolish military budget right in half before it chokes us all to death

Realize that god does not provide you guilt-free disclaimers for your political decisions

Stop trying to muzzle scientific research using political debates, buzzwords and sound bites

Wake up - The facts are long in on global warming or climate change or whatever you want to call it

‘Property rights’ to small streams are an empty shibboleth for your faceless corporate investors

Stop ignoring the recycling hybrid drivers on energy efficiency and alternatives to smash and grab

‘Local Control’ simply empowers outside developers in their formulaic coast-to-coast rape and ruin

Freedom and democracy do not magically emerge overnight from foreign war, rubble and poverty

Look, gun rights, abortion and gay marriage are really not the most important issues that we face

Hel-lo-o, France is not even the enemy, you alternatively-gifted, brainwashed and illiterate pawns

Your fundamentalist, evangelical, literalist brand of heaven is but a comic fairytale to the godless

Evolution is not enemy to any non-dogmatic religion but adds to its deep and insoluble mysteries

Demagogic fundamentalism is way too simple, childlike and constraining for literate adults

For god’s sake at least clean the restrooms in the national parks

Yo, mover and shaker - that house of yours is not some go-go investment instrument

You will be cast aside by employers but still need to work to survive, in your golden years

Credit cards are not the way to maintain a phony lifestyle despite your negative savings rate

Hel-lo-o, we are not building a better world through our mindless mass consumption

Our military spending is infinitely more wasteful than our ‘failed’ social programs

Further breaks for the rich have never trickled down and floated the poor up out of poverty

Your precise information control is not conducive to the open and free society you brag we enjoy

Health insurance and early learning programs are cheaper than prisons and emergency rooms

‘Gaming’ is one more vice pimped by corporations for the government, just like alcohol and tobacco

Your overpaid, unregulated military contractors are running amok, armed and on steroids

Holy wars over resources have failed many times before we ‘invented’ them once again

Hel-lo-o, how is simply mortgaging future generations better than taxing and spending?

You fucking idiots voted for Bush & Obama twice so don’t even look for someone to blame

BigAg’s ethanol is no energy alternative but actually a well-tuned subsidy-lobbying effort

You have led us from the world’s summit into a dark and deepening box canyon

The pitiful, foolish, lazy, ignorant and undeserving hang on your every sponsored word

You cannot discredit honest science with a merest smirking grin & the imperially dismissive wave

I’d call for all your impeachment sirs, but I am but another squishy, cut-and-runner

No, we are not better off or more secure than before this dark time began

America the fat and ignorant cowboy bully is such a shameful, humiliating image

Hel-lo-o, your god did not appoint you sheriff and moral compass to the world

It’s pretty hard to cut and run as the setting cement of cultural decline reaches up to our knees

Contrary to your baseless rhetoric, clean air and pure water do not compete against jobs and money

Leave the Middle East to sort it out for themselves in the stinking desert, without our petro-dollars

Evolution does not rise up against your sacred Bible as yet another Creation Myth to be smitten

GM, Ford and Chrysler are as out of touch as yourselves and the aging senate

Hel-lo-o, mommy doesn’t need a faux armored troop carrier to take the kids to school

Look, you can’t afford two lattes and a $12 lunch every day, you clueless chump

Increasing population to pay our debts will ruin our lifestyle as well as the environment

Producing food like lightbulbs poisons the earth and destroys the sanctity of our family meals

You will never find that account from which to draw that time you are always striving to save

Don’t leave us ignorant and poor to make China rich, innovative and ecologically-devastated

Make them depend on our water technologies, our energy innovations and our food stuffs

You have no right or reason to mouth ‘God Bless America’ after every speech you did not write

This wasn’t, isn’t and won’t be God’s Country and we surely are no chosen & exceptionist people

Jesus cannot and would not guide you with your foolish military decision-making

There are way, way too many black men in your fabulously overpriced and outsourced prisons

Clean air, pure water and intact ecosystems actually are also valuable and finite economic resources

Hel-lo-o, a sustainable economy does not threaten your precious Traditional Family Values©

Just stop with the blatantly-hypocritical, faith-based, saber-rattling and moralizing, already

Look, this is just an undeveloping country on a small but lucky planet,

circling an average yellow star, in a so-so spiral galaxy, in one of many possible universes