Activism - Part 1
ACTIVISM PREVAILS!- A Poem in response
"To take up positive initiatives
against a sea of troubles
and by opposing-end them.."
We were those million feet
marching down all city streets
speaking out against a war
we knew was waged upon those like us.
We were those voices raised in protest.
We have not changed-nor have those wars
it has just become more urgent.
Every day,more blood is spilled.
Every night,the news -deficit budgetting,
cuts in human services-more for the war machinery
none for our healing ministries-
in fact-they laugh at poetry
and its birdsong glass fragilities..
They enjoy a righteousness upon their battlefields
but it is our children dying.
The elders use them as pawns in power plays
watch them drown in oily manoevures
are not seen at their too many funerals
make them food for re-election politics...
We know something is very wrong
This has become our only song
We need more to sing along
The song is peace.
Our very lives depend upon it
May we learn the words again
before the guns and bombs and planes
drown us all out.
--©THOM the World Poet FEBRUARY 3,2004
worldpoet@sbcglobal.net
(you can hear Thom in Austin every week at Rutamaya Coffeehouse!)
Summer’s
End
letter
to the mother of an Israeli soldier
it
rained all night . . .
the
oleander is bowed down
the sages dropped their purple
the crepe myrtle re-leafed
and
bloomed magenta
hibiscus must love the rain
or the previous ponderous humidity
judging strictly by the number
of tight green buds today
one tiny primrose
hides beneath a leaf shield
did the leaves shield the bloom
or did the bloom subscribe to the shield
I
wonder
the succulents have bloomed steady
regardless
but the wildflowers . . .
incredible
volunteers in all the careful spaces
short seasoned
but unapologetic
glory
yesterday
plucked scarlet seed pods
from ubiquitous, militant turk's cap
gifts, I wish
to give to whom . . .
just the morning report . . .
I’ll
spare you
news from the wires
--©
marceline lasater
COGNITIVE DISSIDENTS
We see stock markets rise
yet our friends lose their jobs
We see houses being built
yet our friends are evicted
We hear about economies on the rebound
yet beggars crowd our streets
Something is wrong with this picture...
Wars are profitable for their suppliers
Prosperity relies upon opportunities
Same is true for peace..
Our very life depends upon
a culture of peace and humanity.
We are cognitive dissidents-waging songs
when the noise of war fills up the airwaves
Flags are waved over body bags
as if to bless those children,dead.
THIS IS NOT WHAT WE WANT! This war movie
screened endlessly,without intermission..
We want peace and prosperity.
Right now.For everyone.We invest in songs and poems
because they show a high rate of interest.
May our stocks and shares rise in energies!
May every moment enrich!
May we live through these battlefield times
into our own living choice-peace.and prosperities...
--©THOM FEBRUARY 3,2004
WHEN WE WERE VERY SMALL
Adults were Gods to us-
they could do no wrong
Their rule was law
They knew it all.
Only when we rose up
and they declined
did we see their defects-
their inadequate mechanisms..
We were taught silence and obedience
We were not taught to speak
Now is a different time
unless we recognise what really is
we will be as children are-
fearful,afraid,weak.
It is time to speak.
--© THOM FEBRUARY 16,2004
worldpoet@sbcglobal.net
LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD
Wait.Look around.You will not have to go far
before you find a sensitive.hurting.
(usually for quite a valid reason!)
even if not-look again.at that part of us
discarded as worthless.Those parts
we will not look at-the shadow parts..
If you will not look-fine.
If you look and do not see-fine again.
If you look and see and then move on-o k..
This is the way we really are-
barely meeting our own needs
much less those of others.
Still we stitch a smile on
and proceed to the next emotional roadblock.
Lock up responses until time permits..
Release the wild dogs only when we feel safe
and neglect others while we repair ourselves..
Time moves on.Moves along.At the end
everything is unresolved-more food
for poems and songs,which we do not have time
to read,much less understand
and this is fine again.
This is the way we really are-
until we change..
--©THOM FEBRUARY 18,2004
worldpoet@sbcglobal.net
RATHER KNOW THAN NOT
so when the Internet exposes
the hits just keep on happening
and we are right in there
in every undocumented allegation
later to be substantiated by denial
all our life by second hand
one step removed from activism
we live our lives by computer screens
let our fingers do the talking
while we stumble into sunlight
bumble though our own lives
we have celebrities to live for us
we will never be denied
the joy of surrogacy
--© THOM FEBRUARY 18,2004
worldpoet@sbcglobal.net
CLOUDS IN THEIR HEADS
Let them blow like a storm!
Lightning thoughts /hurricanoes
flash river rising change
fluid as drivers..
Every day,another roadblocked heart
another clogged artery
Every night-another Dream Highway
another evacuation remedy
(We can always leave if it gets too crazy)
We are in the driver's seat(temporarily)
When winds rise,and the rain hits
and the roads of new thoughts are impossible
it may be too late to think rescue remedies..
Homeopathetic alternatives drip by drip
Altruists naive as thin child shivering hope
Feng Shui violations moving mountainsongs
Cloud covered conspiracies(no theories,please!)
When daylight and dawn are at war
who will heal the sick and broken?
who steals their blanket and bandage?
who profits from your sleeping sicknesses?
who put these clouds in your head?
and refuses to budge on their budgets?
Rich eat the poor for breakfast
then eat with each other for lunch
to see what they can steal for their supper
A few own too much ,too many hungry
and we get to eat clouds and rain budgets..
--© THOM FEBRUARY 18,2004
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