Preserves

Who are they? And where are they from?

The last thing I need in this world is a gun.

Ideas are easy to come by.

Just think of tortoise shell, or a bustling ant hill.

Oh what in the world is practicality?

The senses of the world aren't making 

much sense to me anymore.

From a distance I made contact.

But your teeth kept smashing together, together.

(Here's to the battle between heaven and hell.

Where wishing wonders down the wishing well.)

Today my grandparents came in.

Meet them, they are Rosie and Jim.

Hurray hurray hurray! For Rosie and Jim Today.

She made the best preserves, oh God! she made the best preserves!

Sonnet

Today I learned a way to get around

The complicated task that yet abounds:

To fix with love each and all the parts,

And to excuse from it what break our hearts,

That, for reasons we seem less than able

To put in words, much less to label.

But here, for you I will attempt a try,

(I know in front that I will come up shy)

At sounding out the object of my love,

And how I've come to dispossess thereof

The creeps and thieves that pleasure with them take.

Reversing that which caused my heart to break!

   Dare they say that for this I am a fool?

   No! We are but the exception to the rule!

Disturbance in Childhood

Where I'm from, there's a real haunted house.

I mean that.

And I tell my friends at the schoolyard

"I'm gonna go there, watch me!"

And they say "Man, you crazy!

But it's cool if you go with a friend."

So come on, I tell them!

No...

They just sit under the jungle gym

It's time to make some adventures in our lives!

We're young, resilient and young!

They're not having it.

Twiddling their thumbs, shaking their heads...

Alright, I'm on my own. Here goes! I'm off.

"But its cool, if you go with a friend."

It wasn't so bad at first.

But then, there was a movement.

And it was just a cat

On the piano.

I took a few more steps inside-

to the back of the house.

Drapes. Chandeliers. Dust. And smoke.

Smoke?

I walked upstairs -

It was getting hotter, and hotter.

The smoke was getting thicker, and thicker.

Down the hall past the bathroom, past the bedroom -

I wish I had my friend with me.

I opened the last door on the left,

And there was a giant

man

on fire.

But when he touched me, it was cold.

Cold.

I could not explain this.

The fire was hot, raging hot.

But it wasn't bright.

It wasn't hot, it was cold.

I couldn't figure it out.

I asked him, who are you? Who are you...?

There was an evil, tremendous, incomprehensible growl that came from all directions.

That was... that was all he said...

and then I ran

Animal Cells

In all unlikeliness you

fearing water

the measure of my maintenance

dry up at my leave.

And with equal surprise I

loving water

with one drop will you shortly drown

weep timeless at yours.

Hydrogen and oxygen

being what are

they have forever: keeping yours

and my gaze afar. 

Pray that somebody present

a lubricant

to over-oil our machine

so that finally we may part

out of sight and heart. 

Michel de Montaigne

Herein is the first submission not my own. These are the words of Gaul/Frenchman Michel de Montaigne from his "autobiography" of sorts, Essays. Enjoy it, if you will, for its concept--nearly 500 years old. 

On the topic of Conversation, he writes:

Contradictions of opinion, therefore, neither offend nor estrange me; they only arouse and exercise my mind. We run away from correction; we ought to court it and expose ourselves to it, especially when it comes in the shape of discussion, not of a school lesson. Each time we meet with opposition, we consider not whether it is just, but how, wrongly or rightly, we can rebut it. Instead of opening our arms to it, we greet it with our claws. I could stand a rough shaking from my friends: "you are a fool, you're talking nonsense." In good company, I like expression to be bold, and men to say what they think. We must strengthen our ears and harden them against any weakness for the ceremonious use of words. I like the strong and manly acquaintanceships and society, a friendship that prides itself on the sharpness and vigor of its dealings. I like love that bites and scratches till the blood comes. It is not vigorous and free enough if it is not quarrelsome, if it is polite and artificial, if it is afraid of shocks, and is constrained in its ways: 'for there can be no discussion without contradiction'.

The quotation in the last line is from Cicero, De Finibus, I, viii. 

Ready

What's taken love from my heart?

I'll tell you not what, but who.

It was me, my own smarts.

Far to say it was love I had too

Much to give away.

No. It was love a built castle,

High, bright and strong so.

Ready for the hassel,

Only to find my foe

Without the means to siege.

And so it was for me,

Out of respect, my duty

To unlay stone and mortar,

And find a formidable enemy.

Whereupon I'd reassemble; 

Hope for hope to rekindle,

And to snuff out the anguish,

The lovelight vanquished. 

Women

...disappointingly,  a subject I feel most comfortable talking about with men. 

writers' building block

If peace of mind is the true prerequisite for good writing, then curse you poverty and all your distractions. 

Bull's Mind

It's time to clean up my act, you see. 

I'm sick of - SICK OF - poisons! 

The more I rattle my brain around

The messier it gets inside.

And I must clean up my act!

Hey! How about exercise?

Of the mind? Of the body?

The starting line's a blur, isn't it?

My motors are, well, shoddy.

I heard somebody say once, 

"Through it". Through it...

The thing is, I think I could. 

I think I can. I think I care.

But through what? And to where?

Better moving than stationary.

Light bulbs flashing now. 

Switches flipping now.

Next stop, Adult. 

I barely have time to feel eager.

Life Cycle [a lot of one word poems]

Star. Blunder. Wonder. Splendor. Order. Starter. Caster. Giver. Purpose. Reason. Life. Death. Doubt. Fear. Fantasy. Faith. Father. Sky. Forgiver. Him. Forgiven. you. Fake. False. Friction. Fail. Real. Nothing. Everything. Perception. Tunnel. Thought. Purpose. Reason. Everything. Purpose. Reason. Everything. Purpose. Reason. Everything. Purpose. Reason. Star. Again. 

Comedy

"I don't know much about Armadillos. That's something I haven't done a lot of 'studying' on, if you know what I mean." 

-Me, Now.

Animals versus Animals

I feel like a marathon.

Where has the time gone? 

I feel American

What is that?

I feel connected, and purposed. 

I feel unsure

I feel unsure

I feel unsure

I feel unsure

I feel unsure

But on the other hand...

I move real slow,

almost on purpose.

And I'm not sure what 

it means to be American.

No, not anymore.

Get out of my country! 

Get out of my country! 

Get out of my country! 

Get out of my country!

How funny are other people

With false senses of entitlement. 

How unlucky that we must come face - to - face. 

Religion

A New Nonsense.

Welcome to New Nonsense. Here you will discover that all things in life are to be unexpected. Anticipation, Expectation, Prediction and the like have no such concrete meanings any longer. They are blurred, stretched, truncated and omitted. At New Nonsense, we react to individuals in the Now. One is not to consider what has happened, or what will happen when forming an opinion or a decision. What matters is the sincerity, truth and sacrifice of the Now. Come and join us. The movement starts as one, and it ends as One. 

Understanding awaits. 

You are Legend

This is a departure from the usual fabrications, and various other poetic brain children I am accustomed to write. This is a farewell to my beloved 1989 Acura Legend that treated me so well, and that I treated with little to no respect.

Abernathy's Truck Salvage is now the proud owner of my former Legend. In exchange for my car, Mr. Abernathy himself gave me 5 crisp Twenties and a stiff Fifty. This is a far cry from the offer I was given by Carmax.

A couple of days ago my father and I went to sell the Legend to Carmax where we had purchased the car I drive today. I had hopes to sell the car for at least 1 monthly car payment to my father - 75 bucks. When the salesman took my father and me back into his office, he had a look on his face like someone who had accidentally insulted the school bully. He insisted that we sit down, and proceeded to tell us that he didn't normally look at the offer before he let the seller see it. Today must have been different. He had gotten a good glimpse of the car, and I had answered all of his questions about it honestly. Perhaps he had anticipated the price to be low, and in an effort to save himself from the agony of discovering the price at the same time as my father and I, he took a peek. Just before he revealed the price, he informed us that Carmax had "never not bought a car." So, in other words, we could be guaranteed not to see a Goose Egg behind the curtain. Again, reminding us that he was "the messanger" (i.e. don't shoot me) he unveiled the offer...

$5.

That's right, Carmax offered to buy my car from me, to relieve me of my burden, for under two gallons of cheap gas; for a six pack of bitter beer; for a long distance phone call just long enough to say "hello, how are you?"; for a pack of cigarettes. And the worst part about it all...we actually went through with it. It was the hilarity of the situation that made it so enticing. The fact that I would be able to tell my friends, future children/grandchildren that I once sold a car (IN 2008!) for 5 dollars was too much to resist. So we did it. Dad didn't care to stick around for the 5 dollar check, so we virtually gave the car away.

Later that day I saw past the comedy and decided that I could get more than a Biggy Sized Combo Meal for my car. I called Carmax, and I called off the deal. The next day my father and I cut through some red tape, waited in line outside the bureaucracy, and re-obtained my car, for free. I promptly called some Junkyards who were happy to purchase my car for 30x the amount Carmax offered us. Today, I said my actual farewell to the Legend as it puttered off into a field of peers. It is in a better place now. I love you, Legend.

a paradox

i know men who use logic like a shield and sword.

only - 

they attack with the shield, and defend with the sword.

my ideal

picnics. or, as the french call them, les pique-niques: chip-scooped spinach artichoke dip. melting cakes. plastic-ware and fruit tea. condensation. wrinkled red and white checkers. triangular tomato sandwiches. sundress, top hat, bare feet. ice cream in a cooler - the coldest thing for miles. delve. somewhere the mythology that ants are thieves. not today. a glance. wind pushing the trees, and the trees the wind. overly poetic atmospheres. hills, or no hills. probably a duck-filled pond, definitely not a duckbilled platypus. no need for talk above a whisper. slower-than-normal chewing. eyes catching one another on more than one occasion; purely unaccidental. subsequent caresses. connection to the outside world blocked only by the clouds and the horizon. protection. full bellies. one head in one lap. twin thoughts. two prickling stomachs. a billion butterflies. motions to a kiss. executed with perfection. a familiar mixture of saliva. they've done this before. more strawberries. always strawberries at a picnic. excited prickly regions. 2 minds, 1 thought. pure love. picnics.

irishmen

I transformed last night. 8 o'clock found me leaving the Arcade downtown with plans to go to a party in the woods. I didn't have the directions. We met at a house, played some videojuegos, drank a couple of beers, and I was even tested on my French. I think I got an A-. It was time, then, to take to the woods. I followed a friend to the forest. When we got there we didn't know many people, but they were easy to party with. Drinks were drunk, moves were danced, people were wearing frog hats. Eventually I was one of those people. Slowly the party forged ahead, and some of my company began to leave. It was getting sort of late. By midnight I knew even fewer people. I found a friend and we went outside to smoke a cigarette. For reasons I cannot describe, we both connected on a very deep, very Irish, level. Neither of us have an Irish background. We both agreed, though, that somewhere deep inside us is a repressed Irishmen desperately seeking freedom from within. There was something about the woods that night, something that helped uncage the beast. We connected, my new Irish countryman, and spoke with Irish accents and used Irish lexicons. It was like I was talking for the first time. I found myself saying things like "the likes of you!" "BOLLUCKS!", "FUUUUUCKIN 'ELL!" and "I think tha'll DO!" at the top of my lungs. We flipped our cigarette butts out, and chummily traipsed back into the party. We weren't 2 steps in when we fired off some more Irish slang, accents thicker and louder than ever. We were greeted whole heartedly by what seemed to be more blossoming Irish folk. Growls of thick green accents filled the whole house. Everyone was becoming Irish, right before our very eyes. It didn't take long to find a bottle of vodka, open it, and finish it. It was like fuel for our new Irish identities. I'm struggling to know if I found myself last night, or if I lost myself. I found something - that's for sure -  like a stranger in a very familiar land. We pressed on. An hour went by and I had completely forgotten I was an American. I wasn't an American. I was an Irishman - through and through. One by one we sniped away any trace of an American accent. Hell, English and Scottish accents were quickly smothered as well. I hated the English...

 

It was 2:00 in the morning, and I was feeling strange having a conversation with someone in my "normal" voice, like I was holding back Seamus O'Flannigan - my newborn Irish identity. I remembered who I was, and where I'd come from, and how some way - some how - Walter and I were able to see the best in ourselves, and in each other. As I write this, while a pile of Indian food digests in my stomach, I am reminded of my transformation. Swift, forceful and punctuated - just like an Irishman. I've never been to Ireland. But last night, I felt like I'd never left.

of brethren and sisterhood

jonty!

jonkey!

LOOK! do you smell that?

drew akers

im sorry, but you've been given a prescription for giants

can you know?

are you tall?

goalpost modernism

he cut off my big toes and still expects me to stand when i cook him dinner.

better to have loved and lost

good investment

clink and clank. both of you always forget.

speak when spoken to

ancient debate

relax

rinse repeat

reconstitutionization

corporal cornerstone

bank holiday

missionary style

burst skin

situation now all fucked up

yellow heads and white tails. fast vixens and silvery streaks

broken fix-me-up

dig deeper. there you'll find.

who shouted? where's the mayonnaise ? what are upstairs?

once upon a time, seven gargoyles drank. each drank 6 beers. each beer had 5 ice cubes. each ice cube was 4 ounces. each ounce was ... gargoyles don't exist.

aversive racism

which one of you cretins drank my lager?

no one talks about castration

piqued flesh alters perception

news print. slow sprint.

running of the bulls

cap and cane

walk of shame

electroshock blip blop terry tribbs TALK TO ME

pieces of my shattered mind

abundant sleeper

shrouded secrets of suburban shame

fingers pointed at fingers pointing at fingers pointing at faces

prickled anecdotes are far from a "barn animal"

pottery farm

rodent states

leather straps

mouth bits

want two states: north and south

left is right and right is left but down can never be up

statutory statutes

hat trick or treat

suffrage

round gravity

crucifix

just reach deeper: jew can doooooo eeeeeeet

howard bast and his square bouillon

graveyard shadows

nearing birth, i wondered about a dead woman at the bottom of the ocean. i've never seen an ocean.

neglect poverty

tin cents

pence in pants

garbage men of the world unite

synaesthetic reassignments

swilled stella

slick shins dripdripdrip

tiny sliver in the wall

windmill huts

nimbly bimbly

exploitative

prostyle

stair step style

bin days are on thursdays

aderondacks taking a break - hear ye this!

sarah stepped out onto blackfriars bridge's bloocrimson abutement high above the thames. she sliced the water in a perfect swan dive. now she's dead. the end.

lnagauge

Tadpoles, up in arms. Brisk fair-weather fan. crumpled headlines. exploding wastebasket dwindling, ominous. zoom in, zoom out. "but can't we, just for tonight?" it was an april fool's joke. whereabouts? a ten foot gazing sun spool. bodily harm, else no harm at all. sexual pleasures. accidental proximity, accidental meaning. metaphors are like similies. breed bunches, kill the strong. signature move. muscular distrophy. abstractionisms. "Hey? Is that a movie?" Who is touching you? weren't we together? here, there, nowhere. spin a spanish danish. do write. react. re-react. find the cure, find the cause. cast iron dreams. rectangle  brain. who isn't afraid - come with the frogs. rattlesnake babies. showdown in heaven. rearrangements. sinister captions. what is your mood? bargain down. you could never do better than your worst. actualities. dim-witted leaders. please choke on your ties. i said please! discover yourself. frown upon frowning. don't ever drown. sticktoitivenesses. spend eternity catching wind with a fan. smother yourself in intangibles. write off schmite off. where are the gatling guns? there aren't too many on your shelf, only too few shelves. betwixt versus between. ransacked. stray cabbages in rags. live for happy hour. drink during sad hours. i have good advice - listen to good advice! ripple effect. pyramid scheme. brownian motion. trickle down. current events. currently. raised on reason. JUST SIGN HERE! his fingernails rapped gently on the 30 foot trunk, weathered from years of torrential... forewarn and execute. make a big deal. choke up. "what was it you were saying - you stepped in..." pick your favorites. stylize. wonder. wander. speak to the greatness of your sanity. are we really born with it? deoxyribonucleic acid. proteoeconometrics. Synth blast! ovation. overture. roundhouse kicks. iron deficiency. swear words from A - Z. count your fingers aloud. always be thinking of your cells. carwash victim. indemnity. radical wings. where did your shoes come from? delve. whisper. call to action. out of hiding. sprockets. inventiveness. substantial reward. he stands on top of the canopy of forgiveness. don't you simplify? risk/reward. thick crust mysteries. i want to sit on mud. what are my desires? end.

society

We can think of society as a plant, or a system of plants. Presently, the plant, or plant system, is rooted in a soil called oppression, from which society gathers its nutrients which form the core of its being from the beginning. Insidious minds smarter than myself have found a way to capitalize on individuals who are too far below to see what is being created of them, and what is creating them. From this level, behaviors that are "natural", "right", "anticipated" only help to feed this oppression. The moment we diverge, even one person, from tyranny, oppression, dominance, privilege is precisely the moment these offenses come into focus for those around us, and for ourselves. It is our responsibility, especially those who benefit most from the handouts of society, to look after what is right, not according to who in society says so, but by applying some of the simplest ideas we have learned, or at least heard of, growing up. These ideas can be powerful; they are much more than etiquette to memorize so that you are not embarrassed when it is revealed that you do not know them. I am talking about such simple things as kindness, reciprocity, and most familiarly, what we have come to know as "the golden rule". You may scoff at how elementary these concepts are. I ask you to take a moment to reflect on who really exhibits these traits. Then compare this (small) group of people to those in power, those who make the rules, those with all the money. Money is not important in this situation as an indicator of worth, but more as an indicator for what one is being awarded. At the top you will find some of the greediest, power hungry people on the planet. 

With all this I do not intend to dismantle society just to see the smoke rise from its ashes. In fact, I do not even intend to dismantle society at all. What I wish to see is a world that perhaps exists only in my mind, but that the makings of surely are within every person. Some say there are simply not enough resources to go around in order for each person to live happily and safely; in order to eliminate oppression; in order to solve the problem of poverty. What is there to say about billionaires and hundred millionaires? Is it my intent to rob these people of their money? Am I saying their lifestyles are inherently wrong because they are rich? NO! Success is a real phenomenon! It should not be abolished. People should be awarded for their good deeds, hard work and ingenuity - just not at the expense of others. There must be something better to do with all this money that to hoard it, buy extravagances, or flat out waste it. I do not have all the answers; I work hard to come up with questions that are relevant. Surely, though, there must be some way for model citizens to be recognized in such a way that it does not leave others in their dust, literally...

Money is a cruel beast. It's been said countless times that "the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer." Does the fact that it's been said over and over mean that to say it now is less poignant? Less relevant? Less important just because it has been iterated and reiterated? No. The fact remains that each time it is said, it is only truer than before. IN FACT - the rich get RICHER and the poor get POORER. This is not an observation made years ago that has remained stagnant ever since. No. A smaller proportion of individuals are reaping the benefits of society - a society with faults it cannot even perceive at times. It is because of these faults, in many cases, that some become richer.

Here is my issue - the problem with American society does not deal solely with income brackets, class struggles, or "rich vs. poor". While it may be easy to perceive it as such, it comes back to the soil in which are supplanted. Society did not start when I, you or anyone else was born. It has been growing for thousands of years. Smart people have figured out ways to make society work for themselves, but smarter people still have been able to break society and reform it for the better. To make significant changes takes more than intelligence; it takes righteousness, self sacrifice, and a sense of the scope of inequality in society that cannot be exceeded. To become aware of the oppression, inequality, and privilege seems impossible when you consider the power of society and how it shapes the human mind. How is one to compete with such a monster? I do not know. I do not know what causes one person to value equal treatment of other fellow human beings, and another person to be devoid of the concept of equality. I do know that it happens. I do not attribute this to supernatural powers; that raises too many contradictions to deal with. It must come from within humans. It must come from experience. It must come from the fact that there are patches in this giant social garden that are less tampered by oppression, and instead receive pure human goodness at a ripe age. To carry out this knowledge, and to be fearless in one's approach, is the most important thing one can do for the condition of society today.