Driving west to beat a curfew
just declared an hour ago
the pre-sunset sunlight shaping shadows on clouds over distant hills
and maybe the ocean.
On the radio reports of protest
and agitators
reiterations of how peaceful the protests were at the start
how interlopers come for their own reasons to make a fight and skew the focus
how we mustn’t lose sight of the cause.
And those clouds coming in from gathering over the sea
absorbing molecules of skyward mists.
May 30, 2020
I once had an aunt who I barely knew.
She came to visit the family when I was quite small.
I'm not really sure how old I was then,
But to me she was up there, and really quite tall.
She stood by the table, having dug in her purse
for her cigarettes and matches, and next, she breathed in.
I looked right straight up at her, and then saw the marvel:
Smoke blew from her nose like she was some kind of dragon!
And I learned something special, that one unnamed day,
That when I'd get older, and age came into play,
I would need to develop some smart beauty skills
Because one day, like her, I might have hairy nostrils!
Breezes in grasses,
Birds singing—
It has always been like this.
It doesn’t need us.
It’s we who need it.
Lay low, humans.
Quiet down.
—April, 2018
This morning I happened to get up at the astronomical dawn.
Crisp, cold and windy outside,
warm and quite comfortable inside.
Looking out the window to the eastern sky,
I saw a light so bright,
I couldn’t tell if it was an approaching jet. Was it moving?
Concentrating,
no, not moving.
But it’s too big to be Venus.
Like four times bigger!
Maybe it’s a comet?
(No, If it were, somebody would have said something by now.)
Must be a vision blur distortion.
So I washed my face,
brushed my teeth,
then looked again as the pink and blue dawn tempered the brilliance:
Now I see, yes, it’s Venus.
…The planet of Love.
So showy.
So many promises.
Literature, meet Science:
Sulfurous gasses.
Shining so beautiful.
(02/02/2022)
While kind of like
balancing on one foot
aspiring to be
steady as a tree
(oak or palm
depending on the weather)
even with eyes closed,
to be that certain
unquestionably
I really have no desire
to
sta
nd
on
m
y
head.
-2016
Silly spike-heeled shoes,
bad for your feet,
hobble you as you
walk down the street.
O, Ladies! Seriously!
in the walk of life
think through your journeys:
Love your bones
and respect your Achilles!
From November, 2018:
Okay so here's my sermon on deregulation with regard to capitalism:
You wouldn't have a football team show up with baseball bats, guns and knives - the point isn't to destroy the opponent, it's to have fair play and an engaging game. During the course of play we see which team is better based on certain merits: how well did they train? Are they eating right? Are they employing strategy effectively? Do they understand how the game works? Do they know how to anticipate the behaviors of the other team? Do they look good in their outfits? That's as far as I can go with a sports analogy for now, so now I'll just lay it out lecture style.
Capitalism, like a game, is a structured set of dynamics that are intended to allow some people to provide goods and services to other people; I don't have the materials or skill to build a car, so I pay someone money for having done so. Now they have a business. Ideally (that's a tricky word here), business people will profit enough to live to work another day, maybe have a nice house and a nice vacation once in a while. After all, they put out the money to initiate the business and hired the employees to do the work they couldn't accomplish alone.
Since the employees make it possible for the business people to live well, naturally (another tricky word!) the business people pass along the benefits of the business' good fortune to the employees. In the greater scheme, governmental structures ensure that the city can function in great detail, and each person contributes to the funding by setting aside a bit of their earnings and profits to support the common good. Customers find reasonable prices, and healthy competition allows them to shop around to find the goods or services they like best. Employees have choices about where get the most fulfillment from offering their skills, talents and ideas.
People who understand civic organization look at the overview and suggest rules for adoption by those engaging in the capitalist game. Those in governmental service work together (oh, a tricky phrase), to determine which rules to adopt and which to let go. Civic conscience (oh boy... I see why this is complicated...) requires business people employ without exploiting the employees, and provide without cheating the customers. These rules, also known as "regulations" are meant to keep honest people honest and weed out corruption -- for example, stop the company from pouring its pollution into the communal river or wearing down roads without paying their fair share for maintenance, prevent price gouging, ensure employees are treated fairly and, because monopoly is prevented (ouch! what the hell happened Mr. Walton?!), employees have choices about where to take their specific skills.
Somewhere along the line, the word "regulation" became synonymous with "oppression". This introduces us to the dynamic of "marketing" and "PR" (don't get me started).
Imagine the football game again. See the quarterback whip out a baseball bat and clobber the opponent running toward him on the snap. Aside from that being a mighty skillful feat, it would make the game into a contest of destruction rather than sport. So, regulations are simply rules to keep the game from becoming a bloodbath. Civic and governmental structures are the ways we engage to keep the game intact. Yay team. (Nice pants!)
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