Monday, March 30, 2020

forward from March

after all the metaphoric blood and sweat and real tears, after all the work and rework and obsession, I want my stories to survive and therefore want them to be read
 
 
 
 of course Trump is no authoritarian mastermind
he's just a sad media whore with a failing mind trying to be best to get the applause from his crowds
 
 
 
 
what do we think "the economy" is or is for?  We seem to believe it is fine to destroy the source of all wealth and resources (our planet home), or for large numbers of people to suffer and die so what, so we can trade our goods and services?  Of course we will do that. 
 
 
 
 
not Democrats and Republicans -- we need to stop being Democrats and Republicans and understand we are actually human beings with human needs and human abilities, not sides, not opponents
 
 
 
in this time when we are breaking from normal routines, normality itself, it could be easier to make the changes we know we need but have been too caught up in daily trance to effectuate
 
 
 
 

You are refusing your fundamental duty as a citizen of a democracy (or democratic republic) and expecting, ok you do you?  Of course this fundamental duty is voluntary, so yeah, do you.  But don't believe you are making some kind of important point.  You are pulling yourself out of the game in a cynical huff.  The masses who want to live democratically know no human system can be perfect.  We do what we can with what we have to work with.  We don't abdicate to the forces that be.

Saturday, March 21, 2020

plus and minus 0

The perennial politics -- power for security.
But understand:  no degree of power in a random universe
can guarantee any kind of security beyond the here and now.
We need to learn to be our own defender,
to grow our will and strength where we live.
 
 
 
What we need is not hard work, but targeted work --
what we need to get the project done well.
 
 
 
Apart, not a part of a people
No history but my own
(and, of course, the stories that become cultural metaphors)
If I ask:  what contribution can I make?
I realize, I have none to accept, to contribute to
 
 

3/19-21/20

Monday, March 16, 2020

March of co-lapse

All the pretty people
Happy people
Merry people
thronging through the streets, all
agog and aglow
 
 
 
This is how the old order ends
Not with a bang
But a virus
 
 
 
March of co-lapse
 
 
It's like all those tv shows
when we were invaded by evil aliens --
All the new order rules, restrictions, curfews, travel bans.
All the new social customs,
shared jokes, in phrases.
What was  my point?
We've seen this movie.
I don't think it ends well.
Viral tension takes the streets,
people angry, reeling, less than nothing
to lose.
What did we tell them to do when we watched
the movie?
What would we tell you,
from the other side?
 
 

3/5-16/20