The unity of man and the unity of all
Magnifies the disconnect of the unity of me.
Walking to that edge and knowing it exists,
The next step is blind and no less guided.
If my part is the sum of my whole
To accelerate my leap would be to subtract infinite moments of clarity.
The learning curve we allow, the mistakes we make, the decisions we embrace;
Echoes of light, shadows of sound and shivers of mist into cavernous solitude,
Rearranging intentions.
Brought to that edge though turning back,
Assured the reprieve merely complicates iterations of self.
Form, eventual space held within,
The sum of the parts, of the whole of the part,
The stop and the start, underscores the unity of it all.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Economic Crisis
I find it curiously odd, that our economic growth is directly proportional to the amount of dollars spent per capita. Though I am struck by the pervasive theme of wealth and status directly correlated to accumulation, throughout human history. When hunting got scarce, in the old days, was that dawning of economic crisis? Probably so.
Our modes of tracking our well-being as a country rely on material accumulation of houses, cars, and commodities to be leveraged for even further financing. In these times of austerity budgets, furlows, cost-cutting boot strapping, am I to believe that if I could just spend some money that all our economic problems are going to go away. It is unsettling to wake up to radio programs relaying information about our economic viability being directly related to my desire to spend my money. So much talk of the economic crisis, that it makes it certainly attractive to freak out in growing despair for the lack of prosperity projected for the future to come.
But in actuality, I think this rhetoric is symptomatic of the reasons why we are in these economic dire straits in the first place. The emphasis is still on our consumption rates, and how much of our money we are re-circulating to keep our country afloat. Is it possible to fix a problem with the same actions that brought the problem on in the first place? To do my part, I need to throw my cards in the game, take on a house note, car note, put money in the stock market, and play the game the way the game was meant to be played, that's what the context implies. From what I'm understanding, if I actively choose not to spend my money then I am actually hindering economic growth for our country. Part of the complexity also has to do with the fact that economic forecasts use general terms like 'spend money' as if to suggest my willingness to buy a cup of coffee will jump start the economy, though in actuality there are no qualifying references on what this money should be spent, JUST SPEND IT.
I am ready for our paradigm shift. My utopian solutions are to put less emphasis on what we do not have and more emphasis on what we do have. When it comes to survival, I think its pretty safe to say that humans like all other species will do what they need to do to keep surviving. And there are plenty of people in America that are doing just that, surviving, to keep shelter, food and warmth. But for everyone else who is doing better than just surviving, I think its our duty to put this paradigm shift in motion and move away from the notion that economic prosperity equals material gain.
So what do we have? We have creativity, conversation, laughter, each other. We have a beautiful planet, with gifts of color and smells of nature that can remind us that we are parts of this whole. My heart goes out to all the struggling families, out of work, barely putting food on the table. That's no joke. But as the schism between the materially wealthy people and the materially poor people widens, I think its important to recognize what exactly this current economic crisis is. This is a true opportunity for us to de-emphasize material accumulation. This is our chance to bear witness to rhetoric that states that money cannot buy happiness. This is the start of a paradigm shift in which the rich wealth of shared human experience shall emerge as the true gauge of prosperity.
Our modes of tracking our well-being as a country rely on material accumulation of houses, cars, and commodities to be leveraged for even further financing. In these times of austerity budgets, furlows, cost-cutting boot strapping, am I to believe that if I could just spend some money that all our economic problems are going to go away. It is unsettling to wake up to radio programs relaying information about our economic viability being directly related to my desire to spend my money. So much talk of the economic crisis, that it makes it certainly attractive to freak out in growing despair for the lack of prosperity projected for the future to come.
But in actuality, I think this rhetoric is symptomatic of the reasons why we are in these economic dire straits in the first place. The emphasis is still on our consumption rates, and how much of our money we are re-circulating to keep our country afloat. Is it possible to fix a problem with the same actions that brought the problem on in the first place? To do my part, I need to throw my cards in the game, take on a house note, car note, put money in the stock market, and play the game the way the game was meant to be played, that's what the context implies. From what I'm understanding, if I actively choose not to spend my money then I am actually hindering economic growth for our country. Part of the complexity also has to do with the fact that economic forecasts use general terms like 'spend money' as if to suggest my willingness to buy a cup of coffee will jump start the economy, though in actuality there are no qualifying references on what this money should be spent, JUST SPEND IT.
I am ready for our paradigm shift. My utopian solutions are to put less emphasis on what we do not have and more emphasis on what we do have. When it comes to survival, I think its pretty safe to say that humans like all other species will do what they need to do to keep surviving. And there are plenty of people in America that are doing just that, surviving, to keep shelter, food and warmth. But for everyone else who is doing better than just surviving, I think its our duty to put this paradigm shift in motion and move away from the notion that economic prosperity equals material gain.
So what do we have? We have creativity, conversation, laughter, each other. We have a beautiful planet, with gifts of color and smells of nature that can remind us that we are parts of this whole. My heart goes out to all the struggling families, out of work, barely putting food on the table. That's no joke. But as the schism between the materially wealthy people and the materially poor people widens, I think its important to recognize what exactly this current economic crisis is. This is a true opportunity for us to de-emphasize material accumulation. This is our chance to bear witness to rhetoric that states that money cannot buy happiness. This is the start of a paradigm shift in which the rich wealth of shared human experience shall emerge as the true gauge of prosperity.
December 2005
My thoughts jump into the East River
and lap onto the shore of that island
lost to the all too distant future.
And could you please just turn the noise down.
And I would really appreciate it if you could turn the noise down.
And please just turn that noise down.
I hope that this is convincing on its own;
and I can find that special wool to mask the hundreds of others
who've felt this same way.
I'm clever enough to push this off as my own.
My own that is completely unique and in no way
connected to your own.
And their own.
Because you can't realize I didn't make this up.
That its just another one, a lot like all the rest.
And it really isn't that good.
and lap onto the shore of that island
lost to the all too distant future.
And could you please just turn the noise down.
And I would really appreciate it if you could turn the noise down.
And please just turn that noise down.
I hope that this is convincing on its own;
and I can find that special wool to mask the hundreds of others
who've felt this same way.
I'm clever enough to push this off as my own.
My own that is completely unique and in no way
connected to your own.
And their own.
Because you can't realize I didn't make this up.
That its just another one, a lot like all the rest.
And it really isn't that good.
Tallest Woman on 23rd Street - Nov. 05
I wish I was the tallest woman on 23rd Street. I want to be so tall that I could stand at the edge of the East River and look west down the congested two way past Park Avenue, past the Flat Iron Building, past the YMCA, past the piers looking west and farther west until all that is too far away eases into an amorphic blur. If I were that tall, I could stand at 6th Ave and tab how man cars were coming from Canal Street. I could tell the people below when it was the best time to cross, even if that thimble sized LED man doesn't agree. If I was the tallest woman on 23rd Street, I would take a super bouncy ball and make it bounce across the Hudson River. I'd do downward facing dog so that traffic could pass under me, and I would let the smallest kid in every kindergarten class in Manhattan sit on my shoulder. I would use my height for good, and not for, the cliched, evil.
But I can't lie, I want to be so tall because I'm that selfish. Because if I was the tallest woman on 23rd Street, I wouldn't be cut off by reckless pedestrians. I wouldn't have smoke blown in my face by careless addicts. I wouldn't hear 'fuck' every 6th step. I wouldn't watch a commuter, a jogger, an eater, a maintenance man throw their soiled napkins on the sidewalk. I wouldn't smell the twitching neglect of homelessness and I wouldn't feel like the complexity of 23rd Street was above my attention. I wish I was the tallest woman on 23rd Street because I'd rest my head on a building on the south side of the street and drape my legs of a building on the north side, put my hands behind my head and let the sunrise frantically turn to mid-day, turn to twilight, turn to midnight, all over my gigantic body.
But I can't lie, I want to be so tall because I'm that selfish. Because if I was the tallest woman on 23rd Street, I wouldn't be cut off by reckless pedestrians. I wouldn't have smoke blown in my face by careless addicts. I wouldn't hear 'fuck' every 6th step. I wouldn't watch a commuter, a jogger, an eater, a maintenance man throw their soiled napkins on the sidewalk. I wouldn't smell the twitching neglect of homelessness and I wouldn't feel like the complexity of 23rd Street was above my attention. I wish I was the tallest woman on 23rd Street because I'd rest my head on a building on the south side of the street and drape my legs of a building on the north side, put my hands behind my head and let the sunrise frantically turn to mid-day, turn to twilight, turn to midnight, all over my gigantic body.
Subway Busking
Dredded locks bounce irie vibes
Your guitar tempts every coy corner, lures curiosity to your amp.
My heart mingles with your voice in subterranean depths,
Accented verses alternate, eventually replacing my throbbing pulse.
Bob Marley's essence laps gently high to low while
Sandaled toes, skirted legs, tank-topped torsos dilute the potion for their own.
Bodies stir it up to rhythms familiar, exotic, ancient;
Minds saunter lazily as uptowns fade to the halt
when center stage screeches back to platform 3.
Your guitar tempts every coy corner, lures curiosity to your amp.
My heart mingles with your voice in subterranean depths,
Accented verses alternate, eventually replacing my throbbing pulse.
Bob Marley's essence laps gently high to low while
Sandaled toes, skirted legs, tank-topped torsos dilute the potion for their own.
Bodies stir it up to rhythms familiar, exotic, ancient;
Minds saunter lazily as uptowns fade to the halt
when center stage screeches back to platform 3.
Ravenous Words Penetrate Prey
My goal is to make people listen, not for self indulgent/selfish reasons. I want others to hear why there is pain, why there is joy, why there is torture. I want others to know passion and to discover something that makes their hearts race and their fingers fidget and their eyebrows raise. An uncontrollable gasp that follows an indescribable moment in someone's life when they become completely, unmistakingly enraptured in the moment; an instinctual moan of approval occurs, to be helpless to their unconscious wiles that need to be released by mmms and uh-huhs or nods of approval. This response is unforced, unrehearsed and indescribable to others, it has to be released at moments when your mind, body and soul fuse into pure ecstasy and a cataclysmic orgy enervates and invigorates your animalistic tendencies to penetrate your core.
Friday, November 12, 2010
my struggle is that line between spiritualism and civic engagement...
My spiritualism is leading me to general ideas of basic rights of man, however i am also keenly aware that truth for me is not truth for the next guy, etc, and I'm also keenly aware that my truth is no better or worse than the next guys...so that's the catch, how am I going to engage in civic processes, tell you or anyone else for that matter that you are wrong for fearing illegal immigrants and I am right for not fearing immigrants, or I am right because I think healthcare should be accessible and we should have to pay commensurate taxes to ensure this and you are wrong because this is not what you think. And then we're going to legislate one version of this truth: either yours or mine...you get what I mean, I don't really know how to resolve this. Because the way I'm seeing it, the only changes I can feasibly make are with myself, and the decision not to get engaged with the broken system. I'm kind of treating it the way i treat the 2nd graders, when they act rowdy, rude, disrespectful and out their mind, I ignore them; ignoring them shows them I don't care for that behavior and they better come with it and fix their faces or else they don't get my attention. I'm standing on the sideline right now, choosing to not engage, wondering why I should pay attention to this shamble of a system, when there is no such thing as compromise, merely varying degrees of us vs. them. I'm not interested.
One thing I do know is, as a country that was 'founded' on the ideas of 'freedoms' especially religious freedoms, I think its really really ugly what we as a populous are choosing to pay attention to and extremely shortsighted
One thing I do know is, as a country that was 'founded' on the ideas of 'freedoms' especially religious freedoms, I think its really really ugly what we as a populous are choosing to pay attention to and extremely shortsighted
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Plant Life
It amazes and astounds me to think of plant life plunging forth from organic nutrients growing towards the sun and from the earth. Is it possible that each different plant is unique because of different characteristics of the soil in which the plant is growing? I think palm trees have fire cracker soil that makes the plant explode with shocks of excitement. I think live oak trees have the power of the Mississippi that cemented the soil currently nourishing its tendrils and dangerous curves teasing the ground. I think that flowers smell sweeter near cemeteries. I like to think that plants have a way of processing out all the goodness, badness, positive and negative energies of the literal and figurative stuff that leach into the ground and air. Plant life is the earth's literal erections of life seeking light and food sources. And finally the notion of the mother earth giving birth to these plant beings. The life source being the earth, the light source being the sun, the food source being water. Everything plays its part and everything is crucial in the overall success of plant life. Simplistic, yet holistic, and, even more so, maybe somewhat prophetic. Just in the sense that plants seem to have existed the longest in this world, they seem to know the trick of successfully continuing the species. Perhaps, this alone merits exploration into potential lessons to learn.
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