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

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

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

Collective Quantum Entanglement

Quantum entanglement: “spooky action at a distance”, Einstein

All by myself I decided that hair dye, botox and cosmetics were not made for me

A thousand miles away you made the same decision and we passed each other on our trips

Sitting home alone in the dark I realized that we were headed in the wrong direction

Half a continent away I heard a stranger say just that on a far-off radio frequency

I set out to save the world via the personal attainment of a sustainable lifestyle

You invented the same solution and we never had to meet or talk it over at all

We rejected childlike Christian fairy tales for the sound of a hand clapping all alone

Millions of us wandered in these same directions happy at not ever seeing one another

We both traveled far from totally different places to this unremarkable vista point

You had a brother not far from us and we had once shopped in your town

Your large SUV cost too much to fill and we found no solitude upon the trails

We shook our heads in agreement there was no stopping this thing called progress

We talked it over alone at home and gave up on factory poultry and industial beef

Overnight new industries appeared as unrelated millions made the same decisions

My well-considered conclusions on social issues were never shared with a soul

But you read my mind out loud in an interview with another random citizen

I knew I was alone and righteous in banishing packaged sports from my entertainment

Lo and behold their ratings began sliding for good, all across the nation

Thinking about it, I realized that neither chemicals nor cremation was for me

Next thing I knew green burials came along seeking to fill the bill for a profit

We sold our giant house before the stupid speculative market bubble burst

Luxurious downsizing was reported as a great new trend among us

I realized that the inner political circle did not have our best interests in mind

Their numbers continued to sag despite all their best in marketing efforts

After my last downsizing, I would never again pledge allegiance to any corporation

The same lack of trust and commitment spread silently to colleagues I never met

I came to my own conclusion that neither party worked for my real interests

The Independent label grew faster than it ever had before

Despite their best efforts I became convinced of the reality of global warming

They were left holding their empty rhetoric as people changed of their own accord

We realized independently that real estate agents should not share in the proceeds of our work

We had no problem in connecting with buyers and sellers who shared our beliefs

In quiet and solitary meditation I slowly learned to find a little peace

You did the same and, likewise, never spoke of it with another person

Talking only to ourselves we concluded we would never get to spend all that time we were saving every day

Millions silently realized the decreasing marginal benefits of more money, longer working hours and ever-increasing consumption

After too many pointless tasks the artificial deadlines and hazy goals of foolish project managers could no longer motivate me at all

They laid us off for good in favor of those still young enough to swallow the nonsense they could only parrot nervously

We had enough Hollywood special effects and over-hyped, overpaid, so-called stars

We shared opinions on independent and foreign films we all watched on the web

I laughed at the absurdity of the big box, drive-thru evangelical mega-churches

Gradually their congregations decreased even as their advertising was redoubled

You cut my hair for years and it only saved us a lot of money

Economists noted a trend towards fewer salons charging more in a shrinking market

My Spanish always helped me to communicate - with the janitors in our buildings

Now they say it’s a vital skill in the newly globalized economy that we all must live in

We laughed about their latest mania for those 300 foot long luxury yachts

Polls showed few believed any of their latest tax cut money really trickled down to us

We privately decided to make a personal statement regarding overpopulation

Demographers noted that the educated bred at lower rates than the swarming immigrants

We determined to support our troops by wishing for the ouster of their chief

Public support evaporated despite the light and heat of their ongoing propaganda

We smiled at their awkward efforts to put a few bags of groceries in a giant pickup

For us, the era of the monster vehicle was over long before American auto makers even had a clue

An Immodest Social Agenda

Grow all our crops organically, simply as the standard way to farm

Raise animals on proper food, outside of feedlots and render them with dignity

Do not increase population to artificially pump up the economy just to pay off our debts

End the dependence on cheap asian imports and expensive caliphate petroleum

Learn to expect added features in conjunction with increased efficiency

Dismantle the arthritic political parties and scatter those wretched lobbyists

Pioneer and profit from clean and inexpensive ocean water desalinization technology

Simply and irreversibly cut the military budget in half over the next ten years

Set an entrepreneurial example in greenhouse gas reduction for the world

Rebuild our roads, bridges, dams, electric grid, water systems and the internet

Restore our international reputation, respect and moral strength

Awaken our people from this mindless, hyper-consumptive advertising hypnosis

The old should again welcome their age and the youth once more look to them for wisdom

Let us lose the fear of simple and natural silence that forces us into mindless noise

Dismantle the multinationals which happily abandon us all to equal global poverty

Conduct all government business within our borders only in English

Multitask the mega-churches into low cost health clinics and lifelong learning centers

Tax all the powerful religious franchises like any other corporate entity

Properly count the underemployed and those ‘no longer seeking’ among the unemployed

Stop us lusting after ATVs, jet skis, snowmobiles, dirtbikes, speedboats and RVs

Ignore the phony urgency of their unimportant deadlines on all those meaningless projects

Ask where this is made and that is grown and of their unseen costs to the earth

Address the whys and therefores of this foolish and lost war on drugs

Abandon the Middle East to fly-plagued sectarian violence under the merciless desert sun

Don’t bother raising their retirement ages when they haven’t a chance at finding a job

Get old with the dignity of a decaying tree and not like a discarded fast food wrapper

End our leader’s dependence on public ignorance for the success of their bribed agendas

Make mine small, built-to-last, extremely efficient but, nonetheless, quite luxurious

Realize that bipartisan legislative paralysis is not mandated by our constitution

Let us be liberal and squishy on some issues and bullheadedly conservative on others

Reject phony choices and hot-button, wedge issue and litmus test political campaigning

Make these political actors write their own goddamn speeches for Christ’s stupid sake

Somehow, just make our healthcare system as cheap and efficient as theirs and we’ll be just fine

Abolish the career politician and extinguish the professional lobbyist

Protect our rivers, lakes, wetlands and oceans just like we protect our own children

Drop infantile, literalist fundamentalism for a mature wonder at divine uncertainty

Cultivate morality and love as our greatest weapons in our un-winnable struggle

Get everybody pushing back energy into the grid from a myriad of sources

Preserve and enforce the Endangered Species Act to re-create intact ecosystems

Quit relying on an oversupply of young, cheap, uneducated peasant labor for unsustainable growth

Realize that corporate profit goals are not broad enough to set the world’s agenda

Re-use, refurbish, re-gift, re-purpose, restore and rebuild

End the non-violent takeover of North America and Europe by illegal immigration

Reduce the incidence of single-parenting to save the family and shrink the prisons

Realize that no child left behind may well mean that all our children tie for last

Drive much more efficient cars and cut back on our senseless commuting by 25%

Wean ourselves from fats, sugars, white bread, greasy burgers, cellophaned snacks and soft drinks

Put some real effort into developing a cure for the sick madness we call war

End bullshit congressional earmarks, the electoral college and grant the president a line item veto

Curb the endless, wasteful noise of machinery so that we need not shout to think

Remove the immoral wage disparity of workers and their phony superstar executives

Raise children who do not carelessly litter, casually make noise and crudely waste energy

Admit that the blind economic hand, Social Darwinism and literalist fundamentalism is not magically resulting in a better world

Take a much lower international profile and let others sort it out for themselves

Realize that staying on message is exactly equivalent to endlessly repeating propaganda

Quit subsidizing corporate agriculture while simultaneously calling for free trade

Stop letting paid lobbyists bribe politicians into legislating on industry’s behalf

Don’t keep building and rebuilding homes in floodplains, so valuable left in their natural state

Restore the life to our rivers and count that as part of our so-called GDP

Get the politicians off of abortion, flag-burning, gay marriage and stem cells

Let’s talk about sustainability, energy independence and cutting military spending

How about we just finally realize that healthcare does not belong in the marketplace

Maybe we could actually begin to search for peace within ourselves

Somebody could even start up a real 24 hour news channel

Get control of national debt before it bursts like the bank bubble

Don’t let’s build more of these same old poisonous coal-fired power plants just to save a buck

Keep the internet from becoming just another form of corpro-broadcast television

Stop us spending time and money worshiping these empty sports and entertainment deities

Recognize, revere and reward young scientists, mathematicians and engineers

Biometrically and digitally identify us to end illegal immigration and identity theft

Amend the constitution to grant us the simple right to privacy in our own homes