The Story Place - In Poetry, Fiction and Images
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Saturday, December 31, 2022
A Hopeful Dream
guns and all weapons of
bad intention or ill feeling
reduced to their base metals
and fashioned into implements of healing,
all who are hungry
are fed,
all who are afraid
are reassured,
all who are pariahs
brought into the human fold,
all who are filled with the bile of hatred
cajoled with sweetness and caring,
all who suffer needlessly
from their own lack of faith in themselves
see the blazing light of true wisdom,
all who have hearts weighted by greed
free themselves from the onerous weight of possessions,
all who love ignorance
witness the rapture and wonder of learning,
all who usurp themselves and others with power,
come to recognize their own impotence,
all who are crippled and torn apart by disease
see their true worth,
artists and lovers of knowledge and thought
are finally appreciated,
all without homes
find shelter in the heart of humanity,
all who are fractured
made whole,
all who are obsessed by race or creed
are freed of their limitations,
all limited and pernicious ideas
fall to oblivion from their own weight,
all who are demagogues
find a life of true service,
all ideas born of avarice and rooted in war
are finally dead,
all embrace all
as members of the human family.
Sunday, December 18, 2022
Pathetic Emperors of Greed
At this moment in time (the winter of 2022) as the year nears its end, certain individuals of the male persuasion - supposedly worth billions of dollars - are regularly depicted in the news. These individuals are particularly vociferous and manage to project their personalities into the public consciousness with a stunning regularity. This has inspired me to create the following piece entitled,
Pathetic Emperors of Greed
Within the formidable shadow of
accumulated wealth
these two bit emperors
surrounded by their phalanx of
bodyguards and
sycophants ever ready with
meaningless phrases and shallow praise,
inject their toxic venom into the
public space to perpetually remind us all
of the rarified space they occupy.
From shallow mind to
slimy tongue
they elaborate lies
implausible fictions
deleterious conclusions
based upon nothing of substance,
designed to foster hatred
upset balance
foster confusion
incite turmoil.
These preposterous idiots
enamored of themselves
forever admiring their
reflections in silver mirrors
their constant companions,
bathing in their own stupidity,
emersed in the chaos they engender,
murdering empathy
compassion and
the common good
with utmost precision,
suggesting violence,
inciting hatred in
confused minds.
These pathetic emperors
of their shallow kingdoms,
embrace an image of themselves
within their tortured and
infantile minds,
without real substance
frantically attempting to
smother their desperate aloneness,
and the perpetual fear of their
monumental inadequacies.
These pathetic emperors of greed
steeped in the fallacy of their
exaggerated importance
carry the insatiable urge
to constantly remind us all of their
inspired presence,
like hapless juveniles they
insinuate themselves into the public space.
preceded them
they demand unequivocal attention
threaten the peace and
should be thoroughly and completely ignored.
Thursday, October 6, 2022
A Window into Existence
sun and moon and stars and night
into mother’s sweet embrace
upon an ever-spinning and wondrous planet
servant to its parent star,
expelled from the womb of darkness
and transformation
in a state of sweet oblivion.
Born into the prospects for love and hunger
laughter and grief and
ceaseless adventure
with a unique genetic imprint
yet simply another member of
the human race – Homo sapiens.
Born into family and tribe and nation
yet forever alone with the
wonder and burden of self.
Born into a kaleidoscope of
emotions,
a labyrinth of escalating ideas,
the enigmatic world of dreams and
the wonder and enormity of
consciousness.
Born into
a living world,
a reality devoid of guarantees,
filled with the many textures
and surprising dimensions of
the unexpected.
Born into the living world
moving inexorably
along time’s arrow
tied to the cosmic symphony
ultimately destined to the finality of
the joy molecular.
Eventually to discover
there is no
singular solution to the
enigma of existence,
no one way to live a life,
no escape from
life’s ultimate conclusion,
no mysterious rescue,
no salvation from the
tenacious grip of reality
and the forward movement of time.
Ultimately to learn
the art of surrender
to the ultimate truth
that promises no alternative outcomes.
A magnificent and wildly haphazard
trajectory from birth
to death
within the rhapsody and dance
of the cosmos.
On occasion, my mind careens through my past and collides into the sweet and bitter taste of memories of friendships come and gone. Over the years I have experienced the deep loss associated with the death of many friends. The names that occur to me are Beatrice, Samiha, Najma, Warren, David, Bill, Chris, Robert, Nina, Noburu, Philip, Michael, Robert and others.
I imagine that they have all gathered, both living and dead, in one place as if summoned to a sumptuous feast filled with color, and light and erotic and sensory images of the fleeting past. At this gathering, I envision a continuous slideshow displayed on a big screen in an endless loop – you know the kind I am thinking of as on display in the memorials of the recently deceased. Such displays rarely if ever display the individuals involved not at their best and most gracious selves. At this imagined slideshow, there is no such inhibition.
All the beds slept in both luxurious and mundane with erstwhile partners. All the exquisite and banal couplings with organs engorged and engaged at the beckoning of love’s insatiable fever. All the anticipation realized or diminished. All the passion spent or eroded by circumstance. The dance and inherent rhythms of bodies in their thirst for both substance and pleasure.
All the friendships accumulated in idle remembrance and fond recollections over the years. The bond created with childhood friends on the block outside the tenement apartment (1E) in my Bronx neighborhood. Visions of sultry summer days with the neighborhood fire hydrant spewing its content, and the bitter cold of winter sequestered in our fortresses of snow and ice as we staged joyous assaults upon our manufactured enemies with our hastily made collections of snowball weaponry.
Friends and enemies intertwined within the web and matrix of all things past. All the intense conversations of youth; all terribly meaningful at the time, but more reminiscent of that self-absorption so characteristic of adolescence.
At this spontaneous banquet, the guests awaited an erudite statement of some significance from their host regarding why they were all summoned. With a great deal of embarrassment, I realized that I had nothing either cogent or significant to say to them. I was speechless. What I finally uttered was pathetically inadequate: I said, “You are all here by pure happenstance; how this came to happen is a mystery to me It seems to be the physical manifestation of one of my exotic thought dreams.” This comment was met by an agitated state of annoyance and confusion.
My dear friend Beatrice, who died many years ago at the young age of forty-one, was never one to mince her words, spoke out, “Are you kidding me, This is why I came out of my sweet repose!”
In a hurried attempt to rescue some semblance of respectability I then said, “Beatrice, I am sorry; I did not mean to offend. I have such fond memories of you. To all of you, my dearest friends, gathered here, my sincerest apologies. I just didn’t know what to say – I was overwhelmed by this amazing gathering. Since you are here, please enjoy yourselves.” For some reason, this pathetic explanation was considered plausible enough and the party continued. Many of those present had no connection whatsoever with anyone else. I did my best to introduce as many as I could to others. As a result, many stories were exchanged that provoked uninhibited laughter, surprise, amazement and sometime disbelief. It turned out to be a wonderful event.
I noted that of those in attendance, a preponderance were women. This reality reflected the fact that I have always felt more comfortable in the company of women than with those of the same gender. However, regardless of their sexual orientation, they were all kindred spirits to me. I have remained in contact with some of these friends, but many have moved on with their lives. I wonder about them and where there lives have taken them.
In life, we accumulate friends, lovers, companions, acquaintances and colleagues. The experiences that are associated with them are all stored in long-term memory – to be called upon later. In life, one is born into a family of one kind or another, a locality we recognize as place and a tribe or nation. Bundled with all of these intricate and interwoven facets are a particular language(s), culture and an unwritten code of acceptable behavior. In this way norms are established that are viewed as natural to young and innocent minds filled with enthusiasm and excitement in the mere and daunting prospect of living. It is only later in life that these imposed values are subjected to scrutiny and questioned within the elaborate matrix of the thinking brain.
Golden Moment
hours before dawn
camping on the oregon coast
full autumn moon
breaking free from the
embrace of tenacious clouds,
castes its light
upon my solitary figure
creating a multitude of shadows
everywhere.
A flood of clarity
fills my being
the subtleties and magnificence of
this wondrous convergence of
air and sky and the moon’s caress
upon the living world
awakens me.
As a creature bless with consciousness
transient and fallible
yet capable of understanding
the true nature of my
minuscule place within
the wondrous nature of the cosmos.
A golden moment
I want to share
with dearest Julia,
here we stand within
our brief sojourn
with reality
uncluttered
by the human propensity
for distraction.
Friday, July 15, 2022
Beauty and its Manifestations
Modern humans who are living in the world where reality itself has been manipulated and distorted by the imposition of an artificial and contrived environment have become disconnected from the intrinsic beauty of existence. This disconnect I believe is the source of much of the upheaval and apparent violent and destructive behavior of so many individuals.
There seems to be an unravelling of the social order. Turmoil, confusion and fear seems to have taken residence within the fabric of a society that has placed far too much emphasis on the individual at the expense of the common good. The dissonant nature of this kind of existence stripped of meaning has placed humanity on a collision course with a dystopic future.
Beauty can be found everywhere. It is everywhere apparent once the veil of the make-believe has been shattered. It is resident in every moment –
In the dance of sunlight in the morning sky,
in the infinite textures of light and shadow
that expose the diversity of the natural world,
within the myriad of expressions of the human face and
the wondrous wealth of life that permeates
this most incredible planet.
Beauty is resident within
every breath,
with the way the oceans greet the shoreline,
within the timber and rhythm of conversation,
the wondrous flight of birds,
the sheer power of storms,
the incessant pull of the moon and the
power of night,
Beauty encircles the day with
outstretched arms,
embraces the fiery displays
of sunset and starlight in
the dome of the evening sky.
Beauty reflects the symmetry
of the simplest flower,
swirling movement of rushing rivers
power of wind,
tempestuous seas,
belligerent volcanoes,
the many manifestations
of an active planet.
Beauty inspires the artist
to approach the awaiting easel,
visits the adventurer
through fantastic dreams,
sharpens the senses of
poets and musicians,
makes the world
sing.
Without beauty’s evident presence,
we are all lost
within a shallow and barren
existence.
Beauty is connection,
beauty is love,
beauty is the eternal hope
for sanity and grace
in a tormented human world.
Sunday, May 29, 2022
At the Abyss
At
the Abyss
Uvalde,
Texas May 25, 2022
Nineteen children
barely adolescents
life evident in every step,
filled with
playful enthusiasm,
brimming with possibilities,
drinking in life through
every pour,
engaging every breath with
shimmering resolve,
the world the canvas
on which they painted
with vivid imagination and a
tapestry of color.
Suddenly and terribly negated
by the fiery discharge of a
cold metal gun,
bullets riddling through their young bodies
destroying hopes and idle dreams,
exhuberant ideas,
incipient joy and so many aspirations
terminated in an instant,
locked in the grip of absolute terror,
negating their future,
driving their families to the very edge
of corrosive despair,
turning off the light of existence
leaving a blackness steeped
in hollow silence.
Nineteen children
slaughtered by a young man
with madness in his brain,
delusional and beset by
the demons of explosive hatred and rage,
nameless passions unhinged and deadly.
The scope of this tragedy would not be
conceivable or even imagined
without weapons of such ferocity that
only a few moments intervened between
the living and the dead.
There is another madness present,
large, insidious and looming,
a madness resident within a social order
that formulated the idea that all
citizens have the right to be armed,
encouraged to be fearful and ever vigilant
prepared for violence and stoked with hate
for the sake of profit and greed,
for the sake of a
corrupt and deformed ideology.
A madness that pretends that
the corpses of children are
the price to be paid for a contrived
and ridiculous idea of freedom
devoid of any sanity,
empty of compassion,
dismissive of the common good.
A madness so cold that
it sees no need to
take such random and brutal
termination of young lives
to heart.
A madness infused with such stupidity
that it cannot see the
consequences of its own
barren and disastrous conclusions.
A madness that if unchecked
will bring only grief and
wreak havoc upon the future
for us all.
Friday, May 13, 2022
Changing Times - an Optomistic Look Towards the Future
In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the political arena in the United States remains dominated by the male of the species. But like the trend within the demographics of this county that is obviously moving towards a majority of non-whites (projected to happen by 2045), there is another seismic shift that is unfolding in regard to the societal power and influence of women. This change is reflected on many levels by the following statistics.
Currently (2022), 57% of bachelorette degrees are held by women; 54% of law students are women; 50.5% of medical students are women; 50% of current students are women who are earning degrees in the areas of science and engineering. Since the days of my childhood, I have witnessed amazing changes in the area of women’s rights and women’s progress. Currently, there is no profession or livelihood that in not represented by women. This aspect of life that we have taken for granted was certainly not the way it used to be. There was a time when women were only allowed to participate in a limited aspect of the human world other than their expected roles in motherhood and nurture.
Given these statistics, it becomes quite evident that within a generation, the social and political climate will undergo a significant transformation. As women participate more and more fully within the larger culture, the tone and timbre of politics and policy will undergo substantial changes and the heretofore white male-dominated environment would become seriously threatened.
In many states – mostly in the American South – long dominated by white males, there is a stark realization that those in power will face a very different reality. The underlying fear of this eventuality is, of course, shared by many in these backward and repressive states where the development of educated and free-thinking people is discouraged and ignorance and religious intolerance is thoroughly exploited. This explains why in many states, legislation has been speedily crafted and made into law with the transparent aim of suppressing the ability to vote by many of its non-white citizens to the ludicrous degree of making it “illegal” to supply water to those waiting on long-lines to vote even in the hottest of climates. This subliminal fear also explains blatant attempts to control women even by imposing draconian measures to condemn and outlaw abortion.
There are backward areas of this country where Big Lies are freely supported and propagated. One of course is the completely unsubstantiated conviction that the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen. Another absurdity that is currently being codified in some states is that human life begins at conception. This purported truth flies in the face of biological reality. Clearly, a fertilized human egg is not a person; is not human. In fact, the human fetus does not become viable outside the womb until after twenty-four weeks of development. To suggest that the termination of pregnancy in the early stages of fetal development is equivalent to murder is preposterous and draconian.
The purpose of this kind of lie is to substantiate an absurd political reality that allows for convicting a woman seeking and abortion or those in the medical profession who could safely abort fetal development as guilty of attempted murder. The defense of democracy or morality is not the foundation of such assertions – they are driven by an exaggerated fear of a changing world in which women are no longer held captive by their gender, and men freely acknowledge and support a true equality of the sexes.
These attempts at changing the course of human history will fail as all fundamentalist and extremist ideas must, for they are ultimately unsustainable. The tragedy lies with the fact that many innocents will suffer unnecessarily due to this level of extreme ignorance and profound stupidity.