they got a universalist pope a hundred years too late

science doesn't have to agree with the bible upon penalty of death anymore and adam and eve isn't the only creation story ever told. try wrapping your head around other ways of looking at the world, it might just blow your mind.

a round dylan

cheat 'til you win
make new rules
change the story
as you go along
don't get caught
deny everything

(something is happening)
what's a sweetheart like you
(but you don't know what it is)
doin' in a place like this?
(do you, mister jones?)

and the words that are used
(my pathway led)
to get the ship confused
(by confusion boats)
will not be understood
(mutiny from stern to bow)
as they're spoken
(but i was so much older then)

divide and conquer (remix)

they always tell you
"question authority!"
(so long as it isn't theirs)

both sides 

are being played

against each other

same as it ever was

****

divide and conquer (sept 2013)

driving divisive rhetoric home
with emotional mindwash
so nobody will notice
political agenda at the wheel
...
"you are either with us or you are against us"
how dare you not join the party! heretic!
off with her head!

scars, a work in progress

i had to tell myself first
it isn't your fault,
what they did to you
that's where it starts
blame churns and boils
cauterizes the wound
then it washes away
with the pain and hurt

consent

i don't believe in opting out. i believe the default answer should be no unless you specifically say yes.

it's about respecting boundaries...

the lack of such respect is why some people talk about society in terms of it being a culture of rape. but not the yes-people, they hate it when you do that, when you say no.

i reject atheism on the same grounds that i reject religion: it just doesn't work for me.

i reject the notion that some thoughts and feelings are bad. i think that is just some whacked out control trip, to make us feel like there's something wrong with us that we need them (some religion or guru or self-help expert or doctor or head shrinker) to fix for us.

i reject the notions that we should ever accept what causes us pain and that pain makes us stronger or better somehow.

and i reject the notion that anybody knows what is best/good for anyone but themselves.

on earth day and every other day, i do believe that all land is sacred and divine. i believe that when you cause harm to the planet, you are hurting all of us, and this pain is what tells us something is wrong. to ignore or deny it only enables the abuse to continue.

hand-me-down blues

government can't possibly solve the problems that it creates. you can't have a small ruling class without oppression. that is how it was designed. corruption is inherent to the system. the only thing different now than when plato laid it all out for us is that we no longer think of that oppression and corruption as something that is good for us, so now they deny the nature of the beast, try to hide it.

big brother's little sister

first shoe landed with a thud and
everyone will act so surprised
like we've never been played
this same way before
when the other shoe falls
...
we don't need a better candidate
a prettier shoe for jackbooted thugs
to stand on our necks with
and blame us for what they do
because the people voted
giving all their power away
along with the right to say no
no!  no fucking more!  no no no
you are only allowed an obedient
yes
yes we can
pick from the options
and call it a choice

revenge blames
calls for justice
demands punishment
creates more war
solves nothing

sometimes i cry (revisited)

they medicate children like me
they poke them and prod them
call it science, or worse, helping
you think the kids don't notice
when parents loudly demand
kindness, understanding, respect
while they ridicule the adults
who were born the same way?

...
more and more people are overly sensitive
to an increasingly toxic environment
and they want to fix us, instead

i wrote a poem about that
those words on paper
steal the land and claim
ownership over life itself
nobody wanted to see
what the mirror doesn't show
don't waste our time, we're busy

these things do matter, they do make a difference.

the earth is sacred, without her we would not exist, but she is not mother. mothers die. the earth will still be here even if we kill off everything that lives on it. you don't tame the wildness, you destroy it. you destroy it out of lack of respect for the sanctity of the earth. you are taught to fear that which should be held sacred and your mind slams shut at the thought that you might be responsible for what you have done.

football is a celebration of aggression, domination, and war. so how appropriate that the players would enjoy a board game during their time off that glorifies dominance over the earth? it's not a harmless game. #catan

green eggs and ham

incendiary divisive rhetoric
benefits only the state
if people stop listening
...***censored***...
invent a new bad guy
for the people to hate

anarchy is not an ism

to define freedom negates it. and then they call that negative freedom something else, anything except what it really is, control.

freedom is the only logical solution to all of the problems that control creates, but they say freedom doesn't count as a solution, because you aren't telling people what to do!!!

what's on your mind?

the game is rigged so everyone loses. same thing on a personal level as on the societal level. and the war god rewards those who are most destructive, because that is what war is all about and it doesn't matter which side you are on.  both sides are being played ...against each other.

depends on how you look at it

shame
and pride
two sides
same coin
or maybe
a sword
instead

the rules, a poem and a list

1. recognize that your poetry sucks
2. don't try to pretend it doesn't
3. write more poetry
4. it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks
5. write more poetry
6. you can't get better without practice
7. write more poetry
8. have fun writing your crappy poetry
9. not all art speaks to all people, and it shouldn't have to
10. if somebody likes what you write, that's just a bonus
11. write more poetry

copy/paste here

rational discourse doesn't rely upon emotional triggers and red herrings and ad hominem attacks and appeals to authority. such fallacies are all signs of persuasive/divisive rhetoric instead. bullies who are like that want you to fight back, because violence is the only thing they understand.

********

the wardens live in the same prison as the rest of us, they just get special status and privileges denied to others... tricks people into thinking the game can be won.
(hashtag panopticon)

the only thing the rulers were born with that the rest of us don't have is money
(friendstacy on the divine right of kings)

*********

who is going to want to take the energy to try to explain something you have already decided you don't want to know and closed your mind to the possibility? it's like running face first into a brick wall. no fun.

mind manipulations

manufacture fear
less freedom and
call it "security"
BE AFRAID
timeless battle
war rages on
point over there
not my fault
billions spent
broken machine
hungry people
without a home

because, trains

what if...

what if love was a gift
not an investment
and you stopped
expecting a return?

what if love were free?
no price to pay
no debt owed
no contractural fees,
administration costs,
nor balances due?

(your mileage may vary)

**********

what if love was a train?
would yours have wrecked?
where would it go?

"when my ship came in
i was waiting for a train..."
but that song grew old
like everything else

chattanooga choo choo
is just a fancy hotel
no trains go there now

and johnny cash
dead, still sings
about trains
and love

(from march, and edited august, 2014)