Un Haïku de football ~ lundi, 22 avril 2019

Sur quel champ êtes-vous,

rouge comme des tulipes, ou jaune

comme des tristes jonquilles?

Stupidity ~ Wednesday, 17 April 2019

There's nothing I can do but laugh at how stupid this world of people act, 

how sad, this character of mine, Crying Buddha, has become, he must laugh 

even when he just wants to cry, to eat his pain, his sorrow with laughter, 

really he can't make up his mind either to cry or to laugh at people, 

even while he's laughing, he's crying deep inside, where no one can see him, 

see, it's better to laugh at the world than to cry, since no one feels my pain, 

nobody understands anyone else, their pain, their joy, or their sorrow, 

only the world knows how to show anger as pain, so I must laugh and cry, 

they are angry at me and someone in their past, hidden in their sorrow, 

how they forget the past and act out against me in rage like my father, 

if they can drown the pain with alcohol and drugs, they willingly do so, 

nothing is easier than to numb the sorrow but it returns with rage, 

given time, rage subsides into an apathy beyond hope, beyond help, 

I can do little but cry or laugh at people, to hide my emotions, 

creatures who walk this earth like monsters full of pain, raging inside, feelings 

ask only to be heard, to feel love and be loved, but we rage like monsters, 

nothing to do but wait, to find a place to rage and cry, laugh at the world, 

diminish the sorrow, transform it into hate, hate knows the fear within, 

only hate, unwilling to work through emotions, burns down all the bridges, 

burns down the cathedral and laughs at the sorrow others feel together, 

under no conditions does hate ever feel pain, hate feels the ecstasy, 

the joy of someone else in pain, the very pain they feel deep inside, hate 

laughs at stupidity and acts accordingly, hate cannot process pain, 

as it takes work and tears to transform deep sorrow into love for others, 

under these conditions, it is easy for hate to find others who hate, 

given the apathy others feel through neglect, we cannot rise above 

human suffering, work without help, full of tears, only the rich look down, 

at our stupidity, hide in their safe spaces, until someone destroys 

the Twin Towers with planes, an unthinkable act, but hate thought up a plan, 

how love can do nothing but look on in horror, as everything transforms 

out of the fear hate felt, hate showed the world sorrow, someone else brought the hate, 

when hate was young, a child in another country, a foreigner brought hate, 

stupidity begets the ancestry of hate, from Cain, the murderer, 

to everyday people, ordinary, their names, just names, until they act, 

until they cause grave harm, the bodies turn to dust, turn to ashes, to smoke, 

pretend we can forgive, we can address the pain, move beyond the sorrow, 

in forgiveness we find the opportunity to choose never to rage, 

dull the pain with razors and knives to cut ourselves, to show others our rage, 

this world of people act out of distress and fear, we cannot understand 

how others can do harm, when they, too, have been harmed, or they know that to harm 

is a political act, an act of power, the power to do harm, 

sovereign ability to enter a country and cause terror, for years 

we allowed our nation to invade foreign lands in the name of freedom, 

of democracy, hate begets an ancestry of hatred and terror, 

religion used tactics such as this to protect its people in Crusades, 

left with their emotions, they discovered new worlds, and slaughtered the masses, 

diminish their sorrow by the blood they unleash, they feel no pain, they hate, 

only to cause terror, terror begets terror, ships with human cargo, 

for slaves and slavery as political acts brought power, abundance, 

poverty to the bound, the captured, the enslaved, the price we pay to feel 

emotions beyond love, emotions that cause pain, suffering and sorrow, 

only people know how to hurt and harm others, for centuries, we take, 

pretend to show good will, Manifest Destiny, we slaughter the masses, 

left with our emotions, how to process the past, to forgive, move beyond, 

even as I struggle with my own suffering, my own sorrow, my pain, 

answers do not arise out of ashes, the dust remains dust, the smoke blows 

coolly away, bury the past in the ocean, to create coral reefs, 

this will save the planet from our stupidity, my laughter and my tears.

Turpentine ~ Sunday, 14 April 2019

As a young man, I saw intolerance firsthand, prejudice, bigotry, 

such discrimination came at a price, I kept quiet as I was shy, 

at thirteen, I woke up, politically aware, the release of Gandhi, 

yes, the movie, made me understand truth, for me, was a rallying cry, 

only I had no way to formulate in words what I knew about pain, 

until I tried to write lyrics for my punk band, did I find poetry, 

now, as I turn fifty, am I able to write and speak about the vain, 

gullible people who during the 70s left me marked, so early, 

marked by experience, I could never unlearn without years of training, 

as a foreign-born child of immigrants, I saw people act with benign 

neglect, they didn't care about others outside vested interests, straining, 

I could not keep quiet for the rest of my life, this world was asinine, 

stupid and complacent, children and adults, all were ignorant of harm, 

as a young man, I took part in acts of neglect, unable to process 

what I saw as the truth, my conscience corrupted, I lost my way, my charm 

ingratiated me with those who cause trauma, their pain, found in distress, 

notified me, we all suffer the same neglect, we abuse to act strong, 

trauma from this abuse will never disappear without an intention, 

our violence must end, or we perpetuate the harm we know as wrong, 

left alone as a child, a latchkey kid, I found no one, the attention 

every child craves, I found by acting out, stealing, lying, cheating, 

religion helped little for me to understand, I set fires and God spoke, 

as a young man, I woke to find truth in reason, but suffered the beating 

neither parent could turn away and not punish, I suffered and awoke, 

childhood was misery, unjust and uncaring, no one knew a shy child 

entered the world quiet but leaves as a roaring lion, I march with my army 

fully equipped with words I could not speak when young, because my mind was wild, 

in fact, my parents thought I was crazy, insane, mad, completely barmy, 

really, I lost my mind at twenty to regain my sense of injustice, 

senselessly beaten up, as a child, to correct mistakes made, made no sense, 

to understand abuse, I forced myself to cleanse my conscience, Augustus 

honored me in spirit for my efforts to come to terms with past offense, 

as a young man, I harmed others as I had been harmed by others, I cast 

no stone to throw, but light upon the harm, trauma, I knew was wrong, my mind 

decided to take charge, I trained myself to run, to clear away the past, 

prejudice, bigotry, I learned as a young man, injustice was not blind, 

retrain my thoughts to think as no other can do without effort, I found 

even Augustus saw my endeavors as pure, to accept and forgive, 

justice be damned, this world I set alight, on fire, the flames, words of clear sound, 

until I burn in flames the souls of each conscience we carry, we will live 

damned to harm and abuse, to do wrong, to act out as children, thinking God 

in His glory consigns us to act in this way, even this God, I doubt 

consents to our actions, as if His will be done through us, our actions flawed, 

even Augustus knows I must enter the flames to know the truth, this route 

bestows wisdom with age, mistakes made, bad judgment, experience, the good 

invites me to enter into the light of truth, beyond language and words, 

granted blessings to teach, I know what I must do, I had misunderstood 

others as a young man, taken offense, offered the same in kind, the birds 

try to signal, forewarn me of trouble to come, I see their augury,

rest assured, the birds speak a language beyond words, the truth I must divine, 

yes, wisdom lacks value in our society, thus, I burn in fury. 

Mumbai ~ Saturday, 13 April 2019

I was born in the city of Bombay, 

whether or not you accept this one fact, 

as you accept the fact you have one life, 

simply put, Bombay no longer exists, 

born to emigrate to lifelong exile, 

on the one hand, I am just who I am, 

reality sheds its layers like skin, 

not only the snake knows about rebirth, 

if I imagine myself as elsewhere, 

nothing would ever be the same, random, 

to grow up is to accept an imprint, 

humans, like ducklings, imprint with others, 

enter the random pattern of placement, 

cast a net far and wide, nowhere you go 

inside that perimeter will you find 

the conditions of your present nature, 

yet, look outside the net and you will see 

only mirrors of who you could have been, 

for geography shapes our state of mind. 

Bombay offers only a beginning, 

only a place to start, as anyone 

marking time with a calendar will note, 

butter melts with heat and turns into oil, 

as we change from solid into liquid, 

yesterday, I accepted my absence. 

Asterion ~ Thursday, 11 April 2019

Begin again, enter the secret passageway, 

enter darkness, even Theseus saw no light, 

reveal the location to no one, none may know, 

revel to unravel the mystery, this bay,

inlet, cove, hollow, cave, hidden without treasure, 

granted, all the bodies are gone, removed from sight, 

answers to your questions, these riddles of past show 

nothing but the horror of ignorance, childhood 

Negligible, adults live only for pleasure, 

ordinary people understand only lies, 

truth remains beyond doubt, beyond faith, beyond hope, 

listen for screams ancient, covered in blood and flies, 

enter mythology, the deformed child, a Pope, 

yes, the elongated skull with horns thought no good. 

Hoist the Banner for All to See ~ Sunday, 7 April 2019

Venture to say these words become birds on a flag unfurled instead of stars 

over a field of blue, these sparrows in a bush, chatter, chatter, chatter, 

lifting their little wings, excitedly hopping from branch to branch, to speak, 

under duress, their words, to have their say in court, so to speak, as the cars 

momentarily catch their attention, on bars, they travel on the fly, 

instantly, the sparrows return to their quarrel, over laws of congress, 

zingers fly, zip, zip, zip, a sparrow or two flee the bush but a moment, 

instantly, they return, with more chatter, upset with their colleagues' banter, 

nothing but fruitless talk, squirrels watch them quarrel, but know when to play meek, 

gathered in their canton, the sparrows argue law until dusk, when they're spent, 

Restless sparrows, then, sleep, until dawn lets them play a role under the sky 

of blue hue, through our eyes, we see the world, a flag unfurled, birds in distress, 

seconds pass, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, the song remains the same, 

eventually sparrows in congress, disappear, their bills pass into law, 

momentarily, God, observing the sparrows, delights in their motions, 

arguments only raise an eyebrow an instant, sparrows caught in their frame, 

restless creatures quarrel and fight without a goal in sight, they bite and claw, 

yes, scratch and swipe, their flaws, open wounds all can see, foaming with emotions. 

"bloody ignorant apes" ~ Friday, 5 April 2019

Assholes inhabit this great land, call them 

morons if you like, they don't care, nothing 

ever bothers them, except their own self-

righteousness. I can't see why anyone 

in their right mind would want to live in this 

country, mind you, not everyone is so 

apathetic as to shit where they eat.