Category: Poetry

A Mark Twain Quote

There are three kinds of lies:
Lies,
Damned Lies
And Statistics."

My thoughts after seeing a U-Penn study that inferred people are less racist under Trump. It’s also my thought when people say how peaceful modernity is. How there are less genocides. Currently, there are four happening around the world. One in the Middle East, one in China, one in South Africa and another in Myanmar. In Myanmar the estimated number of dead are around 9,000,000. In the Middle East, uncountable numbers of Christians have been slaughtered, numbering in the probable millions. In South Africa, probably hundreds of thousands. And in China, numbers uncountable. Then there’s the stuff about crime statistics being low. There are riots in every major city, but the statistics on crime, as quoted by liberal pundits, have actually remained the same. There was also less police funding, therefore, less investigations into the crime, which means less charges. Then there’s the idea that war is happening less. There are countless going on right now, in every continent except North America and Antarctica.

The Daemon of the Market

The Shadow Jinn, with the blackened scales in hand
Weighs the copper, silver, gold; he gives and takes.
Whom he bestows glory upon
That man is rich, famous and honored.
Whom he withholds the grains of copper and gold
That man is obscure, and will die.

He controls all prosperity upon the Earth,
With the face of an old man and golden grill.
He is pale like the ashen remnants of fire,
And he is cold as the chilly February ice.

He bestows fortune upon whom he entrusts it,
And he withholds fortune upon whom he will not.

There is a story, old as the ancient days
That an Angel of great might will bind him
In a prison for one thousand years.
At that time, the scales will be in the hand
Of the just---for this Jinn controlled the world
For a time. And it is he who makes man destitute.
It is he who caused all the suffering in the world.

Government of the Moneyed

Black is the day that the shadow
Fell over our land.
All want the cannon gibberish while
Freedom drinks hemlock like Socrates;
Powerful men control speech.
The strongest, through their money,
Create their government
Of portals and addresses.

Strong they are,
And great among the nations.
They silence the voices of the dissident.
They crush opposition with silence.
Silence, they say, is the enemy.
Yet, when skilled voices are
Stopped, the strong are made weak
Through silence...

How can my voice break through?

Liberty Watches

Oh, Maria, from sea to shining sea,
From the canyon which the Giant dug,
To the city where thy greenly feet stand;
Songs against thy fat land are proudly sung

As the blackened Cherethim in armies
March across thy fords and burn thy sweet land,
So babes are shot in the streets untimely,
Oh! great black armies make their ghastly stand.

The speech of Maria's chosen do dim,
The cheerful songs of those merry with wine
Do stop in the dead of night; children
Die, of all creeds and runes, those children die---

The black armies of the Cherethim march
The snakes and cockatrices bite venom
Into the hearts of all dared merry men,
Who. from their daily coffers, now are shunned.

Oh, Maria, From Sea to Shining Sea

Oh, Maria, from sea to shining sea,
From the canyon which the Giant dug,
To the city where thy greenly feet stand;
Songs against thy fat land are proudly sung

As the blackened Cherethim in armies
March across thy fords and burn thy sweet land,
So babes are shot in the streets untimely,
Oh! great black armies make their ghastly stand.

The speech of Maria's chosen do dim,
The cheerful songs of those merry with wine
Do stop in the dead of night; children
Die, of all creeds and runes, those children die---

The black armies of the Cherethim march
The snakes and cockatrices bite venom
Into the hearts of all dared merry men,
Who. from their daily coffers, now are shunned.

The Order of Longfellow

If I were a rich man

I would create an academy like Greece.

It would be chartered “The Order of Longfellow.”

We would teach the poor how to read,

We would educate the poor.

We would teach the poor all of the mysteries of poetry.

In this, we would issue out our Associates, Bachelors,

Masters, and Doctorates.

The degree would be free.

It would be about dialogue and discussing the meaning

Of our treasures, from Euclid to Aristotle

From Longfellow to Horus.

We would not teach esoteric interpretations.

We would teach hermeneutics to Fairyland.

We would teach math, science and arts

For no cost.

We would teach the geometry of a Quadratic Equation.

 

The way a Bachelor would receive their degree

Is by teaching an Associate’s class through and through, after already receiving it.

A Master would teach a Bachelor’s class through and through after already receiving it.

A Doctor would teach a Master’s class through and through after already receiving it.

Privileges would be given to good teachers, to keep a record of good rapport within the organization.

They would be given this privilege by petition

When they will be ready to do their class.

It wouldn’t be about the degree,

But the degree of knowledge one can obtain.

It wouldn’t be about mere accomplishment.

First, one would need to prove they can read and write.

Then, after so,

Two years of intense study would be needed to test for an Associates.

Four years of intense study to test for a Bachelors.

Six years of intense study to test for Masters.

Ten years of intense study to test for Doctorate.

 

The tests would be written exams

On the meaning of literature;

Tests on the assimilation of knowledge

Into new ideas;

Tests on the principles of math;

 

Reading, Writing, Arithmetic

Without fluffy organizations babying our members

Or weird sounding acronyms.

It would be difficult.

It would not patronize the poor.

It would, rather, set them free from their bondage.

 

The goal of the Association would be

To teach the poor.

To give a free education to the poor.

It would take a poor man,

And make him into a rich man

Of understanding and knowledge.

The rich would want our education.

Educating the poor and preserving literature would be our goal.

 

The classes would be discussions, not rote exams.

The students would discuss their topic for the day,

Be it a Quadratic Equation, be it a Euclidean Principle,

Be it Number Theory, Be it a Wordsworth or Longfellow Poem,

Be it a Literary Theory, be it a Scientific Construct,

Be it a Dialogue of Plato, be it a famous painting.

 

Those teaching the Doctorates would be graded by their superiors.

Those teaching the Masters would be graded by their superiors.

Those teaching the Bachelors would be graded by their superiors.

Those teaching the Associates would be graded by their superiors.

The teacher would not grade the students,

But the superiors would, to see if work has been done.

 

That is just one dream I’d have if I were a rich man.

 

The Eight Ronin Centurions; A Dream

Eight-hundred men were killed
 Eight-hundred were sent to the war.
 The emperor sent the eight-hundred Ronin
 To the battlefield
 So he could seize control of the citadels.
  
 Their death would send an outcry
 Throughout the kingdom.
 Their death would be heroic,
 A testimony of loyalty to their emperor.
  
 The eight-hundred were slaughtered
 Without much fight.
 Swords clashed, iron flashed
 Mounts hurdled over children.
  
 In the towns children were slain
 Elderly were thrown to the ground.
 The 800 Ronin defended the village
 From twenty-thousand mongols
 Who landed their ships upon
 The beaches of the Rising Sun.
  
 The eight-hundred fought hard,
 But in two hours were swept by the hordes of the Mongols.
 They killed, among them, seventeen-hundred.
 Each Ronin had killed two.
 Three Hundred and Thirty two Ronin had killed three.
 One Ronin had killed four.
  
 The report got back to the country
 As the Prince was in the citadel with his father
 Who expected to be lauded a great hero
 For the fame awarded by these Samurai's loyalty.
 Instead, the peoples held outside,
 Never knowing the misdeed that was done.
 They mourned the Ronin, but did not give honor to the king.
 They did not even know that the king's honor was why this act was done.
 Therefore, the peoples wept for the Ronin.
 But none knew it was the King who sent them into battle.
 For his honor...
  
 But none understood how it made the king honorable
 So it did not bring him any honor,
 Nor dishonor.

The Hyperborean Sea

Longships, fly to the heavens
To the Hyperborean sea.
Great flights through the oceans,
By the sails of Solar Fleets.

"Must we bring ourselves there?
Must we fare the forbidden trek?"
Or, "Shall we be careless,
And steal the lust from every beating breast?"

Great ships fly; strong sails are sorn
Through the oceans of the Hyperborean sea.
To see the lands of giants.---
To one day, this planet, leave.

One day the World will be filled
With the seed of Earth's great saints.
One day Christ's religion
Will fly to Andromeda's event'h.

Oh great hearkened warships,
Oh great, and mighty fleet.
The day we Men set sail
Through that great Hyperborean sea.