Busted type courageous fever
Tickle rewind wall cute koala
Merge mouth leaving tackle
Lick weep murder lifting whip
Rift working wear creature create
Seep weave rip raft meal trip
Rear ape shallow mere kick keep
Rack miff will marr angel murky
Lack sip itch wick emerge back
Icky Ill embers mellow rainbow
Pick big elbow it lull Hindu loud
Believe.
What does that mean?
Seems it’s gotten torn, and crushed,
Manipulated in the extreme.
Does it mean discriminate,
If you are the privileged religion?
Does it mean murder,
If you are against
What one person chooses to do
Inside their own body,
At a health care facility?
Does it mean denying
Someone’s legal right
To publicly affirm
Their love and commitment
For someone who
Is very special in their life,
And grasp the privileges
That most of us take for granted?
Why?
Why does belief
Have anything to do
With all this?
What really justifies
These obviously immoral actions?
Why do so many
Delude themselves
Into thinking
It is okay?
Let’s choose love, instead.
Let’s choose freedom,
Equality, tolerance, compassion.
Imagine yourself
On the other side.
Imagine how you would feel,
What you would think,
What you would do,
If people took away your choices,
Just because of their beliefs.
Doesn’t it seem silly,
Crazy, horrific, sad, shocking,
Doesn’t it seem so wrong?
I think if you’re honest with yourself,
You can see these truths,
You can see the light
That you fool yourself
Into thinking that you already see
Just because of what you believe,
What you claim
Comes from a God
Who surrendered his powers
In every way, except to love.
That is what you should believe.
Perhaps, you should think again,
And stop using
What you believe
As an excuse.
Perhaps, it is not really
What you believe, after all.
It is a delusion,
Passed on for many years,
Accepted without question.
It is a lie.
Why should anyone
Bend or bow?
Why do they have to
Compromise?
These crazy hoops
The establishment
Creates for all of us,
The silly rules,
The ridiculous laws,
The absurd regulations.
They only serve
The very few.
Do most people
Really care?
No.
Most people
Do not benefit
Or have any
Interest in these
Stupid excuses
For harassment.
Those who do
Are not the majority.
Let’s get rid
Of all of it.
Let’s stop
Playing God
With people’s
Everyday lives,
People’s precious time,
People’s private spaces.
These should be
Off limits.
If it doesn’t really
Interfere,
Why keep this stuff
On the books?
Privilege is wrong.
Discrimination is wrong.
Harassment is wrong.
That’s what should
Be outlawed.
That’s what should be
Prosecuted,
Convicted,
Sentenced,
And penalized
Severely.
Let’s wake up
And fix
Our terribly
Broken
(In)Justice system.
Let’s turn things around,
And make our country
Into a land
Where dreams come true
For every citizen,
Not just
The privileged few,
The rich,
The powerful,
The white.
This has to change.
Walking in a circle.
Ranging to be relevant.
Curious comments leave one
Lacking in insight.
Talking to the wall.
Telling secrets of the talents.
Tangled in a triumph.
Believing lies galore.
Cackling on a mountain.
Bounding part of grieving.
Balanced by the water.
Backed to the beaks.
If the walk is long,
Jack a telling fact-urge.
Bring the reaching jangle.
If.
Solid shaking smooth triumphs
Rewind angel loop raw beeping
Leveled tangles lovely toward
Look leave sweep beloved loud
Part slick dueling backward tall
Belief talking swore shallow
Blink separated bringing peek
Swiped smear s’mores rearrange
Mares slinging reach wrong
Rotate leaks lifting lounge leaped
Walking weaved morph sliding
Swallow tall squawk brave mouth
Plucked pound mock lacked part
Wrought milieu smock lad rank
Attractive is not talking, for me.
It is keeping silent, without hostility.
Friendly is not talking, for me.
It is listening, with empathy.
Peaceful is not talking, for me.
It is being alone, without loneliness.
Activity is not action, for me.
It is thinking bold thoughts.
So, where does this take me?
Into a world full of dreams.
A world on the brink of something big,
Shaking the foundations
Of what we call normal.
Questioning everything.
Lifting up those
Who have been forgotten.
Loving the unlovable.
Caring about the underprivileged,
Who have a lot to give.
The disabled who may be quite able,
In their own way.
Recognizing the quiet voices,
Who deserve to be heard.
Why not?
Wouldn’t the world
Be a better place for it?
I think so.
This month, the poetry group that I belong to in Tallahassee, Florida, Big Bend Poets, has several challenges assigned to them to incorporate into their poetry. One of them is experimental poetry, which, if you’ve followed my blog at all, you know I already do, on a regular basis. I call it, “Unpoetry”. I have already posted a guide to it in the menu for this blog, but I thought I’d revisit the topic a little bit, as I’ve had a few more thoughts about it lately, considering this month’s challenge for my group.
First of all, I am fully aware that this type of poetry that I write is very difficult to understand, at least on face value. What I’ve always hoped, though, is that it is something that can be appreciated by a process of “reading between the lines”, so to speak. Although one of my purposes, one that I try to convey constantly, but sometimes am not completely faithful to, is absurdity.
When I write these poems, usually, I pick my words very carefully, so as to not “connect the dots”, so to speak. I purposely do not want any syntax, any pattern of meaning. Although I do believe there is meaning to be found, if one searches and thinks and analyzes hard enough, I do not keep this possibility in mind as I am writing. In fact, I mostly try to avoid it. Sometimes, I may start with syntax, then break out of it, or vice versa. It is difficult to write, and sometimes, I am just lazy, I’ll admit.
Like most writers, I believe in what I write, even if I do not always have much hope in my heart for most readers to understand and appreciate what I’m writing. What I do hope for, is that every now and then, a person will come along and be able to appreciate it. After all, I think that if I can get something out of writing it, why can’t someone occasionally get something out of reading it?
It is a very narrow road that I tread in writing this stuff, usually, and it is a lonely road. I do not have many peers who do anything similar, at least that I have come across, in my 30 or so years of writing. Possibles might include James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Gertrude Stein, and some of the surrealist writers that did automatic writing, although my writing is not really automatic (is anyone’s?). So, I continue to write it, use it, depend on it, trust it. I hope some of you enjoy it. Thanks for reading.
Something creeps,
It crawls on me,
It plagues my brain,
I am uneasy.
Something near,
Quite too close.
It hurts my heart.
I’m just morose.
Such a thing
Hangs like a noose.
I’m dangling.
What does it prove?
Have I a care?
I wonder why.
It hurts to think.
It blinds my eye.
Such thoughts are hard,
Harder than stone.
They weigh a ton,
They are no fun.
Why must they be,
To follow me
Into the night
Where I can’t see?
I don’t like it,
No, not at all.
It seems like it
Will hurt to fall.
That’s really not
A pleasant thought.
Do you blame me
For trusting naught?
Perhaps, I live
Too carefully,
But I am cautious,
Naturally,
Because I’ve suffered
At the hands
Of reckless persons
In this land.
I will worry,
When I’ve cause.
I will take
The time to pause
At the merest
Hint of threat.
Do you balance
With no net?
Resist, fight for whatever,
Equality in all its forms,
Straight ahead, fumes and foreigners,
Flowing, crying, foreseeing, contemplating.
Combining messages. Foretelling.
Do you describe me? Can you see
The silver lining of the elephant in the room?
A costly guess, a rheumatoid arthritis
In the brain, coming from deep in the bowels.
A little prophecy. A lengthy diatribe.
A teaching from a cloud.
Seeing through the false claims,
The criticisms, the confusion,
The not-so-clear explanations, justifications,
Defenses and attacks.
Nicely done. Not so.
Knowledge in a bottle.
Jolly harbor hype never below bites
Behind below before beer name
Battle clip kill crap kick mock move
Mill wipe yell whip wall wallop ripe
Rip beneath slip swallow never nip
Muster sweep mail wrong rip vamp
Ramp recess sip raid twice ship grow
Hello front went slip twerp zoom wet
Front height grapple flaunt miss want
Press knock lock walk jump tramp trip
Miss mass muster ward veer zoom gelatin
Brunt blow cross broken whisper mop
Crest flip west exam blimp post pest
Brunt dump drunk crimp plot plant print
Flaunt front triumph freeze cream kneel
Rambling cruelly through a desert of creativity.
Hard to believe, I know, as much as has spewed from me.
But trust me, I’m suffering, so try to support me.
I only want friendly, good vibes from the family.
Don’t you think syncing with you would be lovely?
Tech talk can be empty, I know, but that’s just me.
Let’s do lunch or maybe a dinner together
At my house or your house or maybe at Denny’s.
Let’s have coffee, talk freely, be friendly, do something,
Go somewhere, represent, move ideas, change society.
I want to come alive when I can and change the world, don’t you?
Let do it so freedom can echo from the rooftops!
Let’s rock this and transform everything so everybody
Can be be equal and free and happy and loving!
I want us all to get along, but I want more than that.
I want community, cooperation, give and take from everybody.
I want all to feel valued and included in the dreams and visions
Of this great nation that has fallen into a sewer of stupidity.
I want us to escape from all the lies in the media and the talking heads and the egos.
I want everyone’s vote to count, and I mean every single person,
Republican, Democrat, Independent or any party.
I want all of our voices to be heard, so let’s make it happen, can we?
Stumbling along the sidewalk 