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  1. TopTop #2251
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    The Good Life


    When some people talk about money
    They speak as if it were a mysterious lover
    Who went out to buy milk and never
    Came back, and it makes me nostalgic
    For the years I lived on coffee and bread,
    Hungry all the time, walking to work on payday
    Like a woman journeying for water
    From a village without a well, then living
    One or two nights like everyone else
    On roast chicken and red wine


    - Tracy K. Smith
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  2. Gratitude expressed by 5 members:

  3. TopTop #2252
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Autumn Rose


    Autumn rose lays its petals like eyelids on the last evening light,
    On the back of sorrow's delicate hand.


    It gathers the huge and powerful irony
    Of my tiny life,
    And places it gently upon.


    Amber hush comes for the blossom and the hour both
    And because I cannot swim
    We slip together
    between the walls of time
    Where survival is meaningless
    And only this rose
    Will know my name.


    - BSue
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  4. Gratitude expressed by 2 members:

  5. TopTop #2253
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    The Magi


    Now as at all times I can see in the mind's eye,
    In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones
    Appear and disappear in the blue depth of the sky
    With all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones,
    And all their helms of Silver hovering side by side,
    And all their eyes still fixed, hoping to find once more,
    Being by Calvary's turbulence unsatisfied,
    The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor.


    - William Butler Yeats
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  6. Gratitude expressed by 2 members:

  7. TopTop #2254
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Solstice Poem


    The world will not end tonight,
    though the wrinkled horsemen
    slumped over their antediluvian mounts
    are standing by waiting for the cue
    and who knows where the trumpeter’s gone by now
    itching to wet his whistle ...


    though the placards and signs are lined up
    against the crumbling walls proclaiming the end is nigh
    and the ones on parchment vellum and papyrus
    curl in their glass cases as generations
    of school kids careen by, oblivious. ...


    though the fountain of youth persists beneath
    the track at Hialeah or maybe next door
    under the ersatz jungle pool at the Four Winds Motel,
    plastic pink flamingos fishing the crew cut lawn, ...


    though the bomb shelters sink into themselves,
    faded labels peeling from crushed and dented cans
    whose combined shelf lives equal
    a number we have not yet reckoned, ...


    though the cryogenic warehouses await occupation
    your choice of sheepskin or stainless steel lining
    your pod stationed on site or shot into space, ...


    though the falling dreams, the flying dreams
    the nightly haunting journeys through
    an unbound space time confluence...
    (Did you ever ride an elevator to the moon? )


    though the green leaves furl crimson and gold
    and fall in the gusty autumn afternoon
    and the sky stalls, a stark white glare
    under the wraiths of cloud, the shroud of fog....
    though the brewing rain a deluge in the drought, ...


    though we are saturate of blood and oil,
    the tape loops of disgruntlement,
    the strung beads of grievance,
    the squandered slain of battlefield and school


    and though we grieve the sacrificial lambs,
    petals strewn on blind archaic altars,
    though we toll the bells and count our losses,
    cast our nets, jump from cliffs,
    or dive into the cold dark heart to find the molten light,
    The world will not end tonight.


    - Carla Steinberg
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  8. Gratitude expressed by 4 members:

  9. TopTop #2255
    Roland Jacopetti's Avatar
    Roland Jacopetti
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    The Magi


    Now as at all times I can see in the mind's eye,
    In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones
    Appear and disappear in the blue depth of the sky
    With all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones,
    And all their helms of Silver hovering side by side,
    And all their eyes still fixed, hoping to find once more,
    Being by Calvary's turbulence unsatisfied,
    The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor.


    - William Butler Yeats
    Isn't it time for Yeats to be reborn? We need him badly!
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  10. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  11. TopTop #2256
    Chris Dec's Avatar
    Chris Dec
    Supporting Member

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Dog Ate Joseph

    Every other figurine is there in place:
    the sheep, their herders, the mother and the infant
    But there is no Joseph... the dog ate Joseph
    And all I can do is leave an empty space
    as we wait until we find a man
    to fill the job
    to find him finally,
    missing in action,
    deployed Joseph,
    Joseph crushed with anger and fear,
    junky Joseph,
    crazed Joseph.
    The wood woman has no idea she’s a single mother
    for in her world, there’s no other kind.
    The wise men bring a purple heart, the yellow vest, a folded flag.
    The partial creche in the candle light, solemn, serene,
    has no idea what is to come.
    Because the God-damned dog ate Joseph
    Chewed him up and spat him out a splintered stick of a man
    who cannot find his way back home.

    Chris Dec
    2001


    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    The Magi

    Now as at all times I can see in the mind's eye,
    In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones
    Appear and disappear in the blue depth of the sky
    With all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones,
    And all their helms of Silver hovering side by side,
    And all their eyes still fixed, hoping to find once more,
    Being by Calvary's turbulence unsatisfied,
    The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor.

    - William Butler Yeats
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  12. Gratitude expressed by 7 members:

  13. TopTop #2257
    Timothy Gega
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Chris Dec: View Post
    Dog Ate Joseph

    Every other figurine is there in place:

    to find him finally,
    missing in action,
    deployed Joseph,
    Joseph crushed with anger and fear,
    junky Joseph,
    crazed Joseph....
    Love this, Chris Dec., makes me want to both cry and laugh.
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  14. Gratitude expressed by 2 members:

  15. TopTop #2258
    Roland Jacopetti's Avatar
    Roland Jacopetti
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Fantastic poem, Chris! A fitting companion to Yeats.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Chris Dec: View Post
    Dog Ate Joseph

    Every other figurine is there in place:
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  17. TopTop #2259
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Beannacht
    ("Blessing")
    On the day when
    the weight deadens
    on your shoulders
    and you stumble,
    may the clay dance
    to balance you.

    And when your eyes
    freeze behind
    the grey window
    and the ghost of loss
    gets in to you,
    may a flock of colours,
    indigo, red, green,
    and azure blue
    come to awaken in you
    a meadow of delight.

    When the canvas frays
    in the currach of thought
    and a stain of ocean
    blackens beneath you,
    may there come across the waters
    a path of yellow moonlight
    to bring you safely home.

    May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
    may the clarity of light be yours,
    may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
    may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
    And so may a slow
    wind work these words
    of love around you,
    an invisible cloak
    to mind your life.

    - John O'Donohue
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  18. Gratitude expressed by 7 members:

  19. TopTop #2260
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    For Bill Kortum (1927-2014) - one of the good ones!


    I Have Walked Along Many Roads


    I have walked along many roads,

    and opened paths through brush,
    I have sailed over a hundred seas
    and tied up on a hundred shores.


    Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve seen
    excursions of sadness,
    angry and melancholy
    drunkards with black shadows,


    and academics in offstage clothes
    who watch, say nothing, and think
    they know, because they do not drink wine
    in the ordinary bars.


    Evil men who walk around
    polluting the earth. . .


    And everywhere I’ve been I’ve seen
    men who dance and play,
    when they can, and work
    the few inches of ground they have.


    If they turn up somewhere,
    they never ask where they are.
    When they take trips, they ride
    on the backs of old mules.


    They don’t know how to hurry,
    not even on holidays.
    They drink wine, if there is some,
    if not, cool water.


    These men are the good ones,
    who love, work, walk and dream.
    And on a day no different from the rest
    they lie down beneath the earth.


    - Antonio Machado
    (translated by Robert Bly)
    Last edited by Barry; 12-22-2014 at 01:51 PM.
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  20. Gratitude expressed by 5 members:

  21. TopTop #2261
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Toward the Winter Solstice

    Although the roof is just a story high,
    It dizzies me a little to look down.
    I lariat-twirl the cord of Christmas lights
    And cast it to the weeping birch’s crown;
    A dowel into which I’ve screwed a hook
    Enables me to reach, lift, drape, and twine
    The cord among the boughs so that the bulbs
    Will accent the tree’s elegant design.


    Friends, passing home from work or shopping, pause
    And call up commendations or critiques.
    I make adjustments. Though a potpourri
    Of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Sikhs,
    We all are conscious of the time of year;
    We all enjoy its colorful displays
    And keep some festival that mitigates
    The dwindling warmth and compass of the days.


    Some say that L.A. doesn’t suit the Yule,
    But UPS vans now like magi make
    Their present-laden rounds, while fallen leaves
    Are gaily resurrected in their wake;
    The desert lifts a full moon from the east
    And issues a dry Santa Ana breeze,
    And valets at chic restaurants will soon
    Be tending flocks of cars and SUVs.


    And as the neighborhoods sink into dusk
    The fan palms scattered all across town stand
    More calmly prominent, and this place seems
    A vast oasis in the Holy Land.
    This house might be a caravansary,
    The tree a kind of cordial fountainhead
    Of welcome, looped and decked with necklaces
    And ceintures of green, yellow, blue, and red.


    Some wonder if the star of Bethlehem
    Occurred when Jupiter and Saturn crossed;
    It’s comforting to look up from this roof
    And feel that, while all changes, nothing’s lost,
    To recollect that in antiquity
    The winter solstice fell in Capricorn
    And that, in the Orion Nebula,
    From swirling gas, new stars are being born.

    - Timothy Steele
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  22. Gratitude expressed by 5 members:

  23. TopTop #2262
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    A Christmas Carol



    Away in a manger
    or a crack house
    or under a bridge
    or in a bombed-out village
    or a refugee camp
    or in the mesquite shade close to the border wall
    some Mary is giving birth.


    Even as you read this
    a child is being born.


    What if one of these were the promised one,
    the beacon of hope,
    the seed of a new light
    in a dark time?


    What if they all were?
    What gifts would you bring
    if you were wise?


    - Larry Robinson
    Last edited by Barry; 12-24-2014 at 01:31 PM.
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  24. TopTop #2263

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Beautiful. Thank you!
    Sharing it onward.
    Blessed [and Blessing!] Christmas!
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  25. Gratitude expressed by 2 members:

  26. TopTop #2264
    Roland Jacopetti's Avatar
    Roland Jacopetti
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Larry, your gifts are beyond price. Thank you for your wisdom.

    Roland

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    A Christmas Carol

    ...
    What gifts would you bring
    if you were wise?

    - Larry Robinson
    Last edited by Barry; 12-25-2014 at 02:14 PM.
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  27. Gratitude expressed by 4 members:

  28. TopTop #2265
    wingpoet
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Larry,
    I appreciate your poetry selections so much -- read Chris Dec's "Dog Ate Joseph" at the Healdsburg Literary Guild's Third Sunday Salon this past Sunday, because it was too good not to share. And have passed on many others. And now this wonderful poem, from you. Thank you so much for giving us this beautiful message of hope.
    And for lighting our days with poetry.
    -- Michelle

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    A Christmas Carol



    Away in a manger
    or a crack house
    or under a bridge
    or in a bombed-out village
    or a refugee camp
    or in the mesquite shade close to the border wall
    some Mary is giving birth.


    Even as you read this
    a child is being born.


    What if one of these were the promised one,
    the beacon of hope,
    the seed of a new light
    in a dark time?


    What if they all were?
    What gifts would you bring
    if you were wise?


    - Larry Robinson
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  29. Gratitude expressed by 4 members:

  30. TopTop #2266
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    The Coming of Light

    Even this late it happens:
    the coming of love, the coming of light.
    You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves,
    stars gather, dreams pour into your pillows,
    sending up warm bouquets of air.
    Even this late the bones of the body shine
    and tomorrow's dust flares into breath.

    - Mark Strand
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  31. Gratitude expressed by 6 members:

  32. TopTop #2267
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Christmas Trees


    (A Christmas Circular Letter)
    The city had withdrawn into itself
    And left at last the country to the country;
    When between whirls of snow not come to lie
    And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove
    A stranger to our yard, who looked the city,
    Yet did in country fashion in that there
    He sat and waited till he drew us out
    A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was.
    He proved to be the city come again
    To look for something it had left behind
    And could not do without and keep its Christmas.
    He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;
    My woods—the young fir balsams like a place
    Where houses all are churches and have spires.
    I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees.
    I doubt if I was tempted for a moment
    To sell them off their feet to go in cars
    And leave the slope behind the house all bare,
    Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon.
    I’d hate to have them know it if I was.
    Yet more I’d hate to hold my trees except
    As others hold theirs or refuse for them,
    Beyond the time of profitable growth,
    The trial by market everything must come to.
    I dallied so much with the thought of selling.
    Then whether from mistaken courtesy
    And fear of seeming short of speech, or whether
    From hope of hearing good of what was mine, I said,
    “There aren’t enough to be worth while.”
    “I could soon tell how many they would cut,
    You let me look them over.”

    “You could look.
    But don’t expect I’m going to let you have them.”
    Pasture they spring in, some in clumps too close
    That lop each other of boughs, but not a few
    Quite solitary and having equal boughs
    All round and round. The latter he nodded “Yes” to,
    Or paused to say beneath some lovelier one,
    With a buyer’s moderation, “That would do.”
    I thought so too, but wasn’t there to say so.
    We climbed the pasture on the south, crossed over,
    And came down on the north. He said, “A thousand.”

    “A thousand Christmas trees!—at what apiece?”

    He felt some need of softening that to me:
    “A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars.”

    Then I was certain I had never meant
    To let him have them. Never show surprise!
    But thirty dollars seemed so small beside
    The extent of pasture I should strip, three cents
    (For that was all they figured out apiece),
    Three cents so small beside the dollar friends
    I should be writing to within the hour
    Would pay in cities for good trees like those,
    Regular vestry-trees whole Sunday Schools
    Could hang enough on to pick off enough.
    A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had!
    Worth three cents more to give away than sell,
    As may be shown by a simple calculation.
    Too bad I couldn’t lay one in a letter.
    I can’t help wishing I could send you one,
    In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.

    - Robert Frost
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  33. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  34. TopTop #2268
    gardenmaniac's Avatar
    gardenmaniac
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    The Night Before Christmas redux

    twas the day after christmas and all the thru the store
    people were shouting "we need to buy more"
    most feared they'd missed out on the best deals of all
    so early they got up and drove to the mall

    I'm sorry to say it's the 'merican way ...
    there's never enough in old Santy Claws sleigh
    to fill up that void we buy things we don't need

    it's really appalling to witness such greed

    I remember when
    we would behave in this way
    only that one late November Friday
    we forgot to be grateful for all that we've got

    so here's an idea; let's give it a shot

    maybe next weekend to start the new year
    we can relish our good health and those we hold dear
    be grateful for everything good in our lives
    our sisters our brothers our husbands and wives



    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    Christmas Trees
    ...
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  35. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  36. TopTop #2269
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Hymn to Matter

    Blessed be you harsh matter, barren rock; you who yield only
    to violence, you who force us to work if we would eat. Blessed
    be you, perilous matter, violent sea, untamable passion: you who
    unless we fetter you, will devour us. Blessed be you, mighty matter, irresistible
    march, reality ever new born; you who by constantly
    shattering our mental categories, force us to go ever further in our
    pursuit of the truth. Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable
    time, boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations;
    you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards of
    measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God.

    - Teilhard de Chardin
    (Translation by Bernard Wall)
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  37. Gratitude expressed by 5 members:

  38. TopTop #2270
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Happiness


    There’s just no accounting for happiness,
    or the way it turns up like a prodigal
    who comes back to the dust at your feet
    having squandered a fortune far away.


    And how can you not forgive?
    You make a feast in honor of what
    was lost, and take from its place the finest
    garment, which you saved for an occasion
    you could not imagine, and you weep night and day
    to know that you were not abandoned,
    that happiness saved its most extreme form
    for you alone.


    No, happiness is the uncle you never
    knew about, who flies a single-engine plane
    onto the grassy landing strip, hitchhikes
    into town, and inquires at every door
    until he finds you asleep midafternoon
    as you so often are during the unmerciful
    hours of your despair.


    It comes to the monk in his cell.
    It comes to the woman sweeping the street
    with a birch broom, to the child
    whose mother has passed out from drink.
    It comes to the lover, to the dog chewing
    a sock, to the pusher, to the basketmaker,
    and to the clerk stacking cans of carrots
    in the night.
    It even comes to the boulder
    in the perpetual shade of pine barrens,
    to rain falling on the open sea,
    to the wineglass, weary of holding wine.


    - Jane Kenyon
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  39. TopTop #2271

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Just beautiful! Will leave anyone, I believe, feeling like a member of the Human Race. (And I believe to evoke that feeling in readers is one of the main purposes of poetry, for, when expressed at the right "angle of vision" and insight: "the universal", truth, and love are all the same thing; eh?

    Deeply appreciated!
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  40. TopTop #2272
    cynctysings's Avatar
    cynctysings
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    What a lovely, lovely gift this holiday season! Jane Kenyon, one of my favorite poets, is gone too soon from this plane for my liking, but what a treasure trove she left in her wake. Thank you, Larry, for your impeccable sense of what to share with us all. namaste. Cynthi

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    Happiness


    There’s just no accounting for happiness,
    or the way it turns up like a prodigal
    who comes back to the dust at your feet
    having squandered a fortune far away.


    And how can you not forgive?
    You make a feast in honor of what
    was lost, and take from its place the finest
    garment, which you saved for an occasion
    you could not imagine, and you weep night and day
    to know that you were not abandoned,
    that happiness saved its most extreme form
    for you alone.


    No, happiness is the uncle you never
    knew about, who flies a single-engine plane
    onto the grassy landing strip, hitchhikes
    into town, and inquires at every door
    until he finds you asleep midafternoon
    as you so often are during the unmerciful
    hours of your despair.


    It comes to the monk in his cell.
    It comes to the woman sweeping the street
    with a birch broom, to the child
    whose mother has passed out from drink.
    It comes to the lover, to the dog chewing
    a sock, to the pusher, to the basketmaker,
    and to the clerk stacking cans of carrots
    in the night.
    It even comes to the boulder
    in the perpetual shade of pine barrens,
    to rain falling on the open sea,
    to the wineglass, weary of holding wine.


    - Jane Kenyon
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  41. Gratitude expressed by:

  42. TopTop #2273
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    As Ferguson Burns
    As Ferguson burns,

    I hear the outrage of a people
    with lives rendered valueless
    once and for all.
    A people with hearts that can bleed
    onto the streets
    without recourse.
    As Ferguson burns,
    I hear the anguish of a mother
    twice destroyed.
    First by one man, then by a country
    whose justice
    does not extend to her flesh.
    As Ferguson burns,
    I hear the conscience of millions
    INDICTED.
    Who hoped for more
    but expected nothing less.
    Who will wait for the flames to be extinguished
    during the commercial break.
    As Ferguson burns,
    I hear the voices of unchecked power
    and shudder at the knowledge
    that they will come for me one day.
    That my day, too, will come
    to bleed onto the street
    without recourse.
    And so,
    as Ferguson burns,
    I hear the voice inside me chant,
    “Burn on.”
    Let the fires burn
    until every ear
    is ripped open.
    Let the fires burn
    until the weak
    the disadvantaged
    the oppressed
    are not alone
    in their hot rage
    at the brutal confirmation
    of their own expendability.
    Let the fires burn
    until every city, every town
    is on its knees.
    Until there is no choice
    but for all of us
    to burn alone
    or rise again
    together.
    As Ferguson burns,
    I hear my voice cry out.
    “Burn on.”


    - Angel Butts
    Last edited by Barry; 12-29-2014 at 02:27 PM.
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  43. Gratitude expressed by 4 members:

  44. TopTop #2274
    Timothy Gega
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Wonderful Poem, Larry. This poem expresses the sentiment of many people today.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    As Ferguson Burns
    As Ferguson burns,

    - Angel Butts
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  45. TopTop #2275
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    They carved “Nigger Lover”
    On the hood of our car
    After Dad came back from Selma
    He went because he said he had to
    Just like he’d done in ’44
    To him it was the same war
    Fought in a different uniform
    But you there
    Breaking windows
    Just remember:
    You have no right to right
    If you do wrong yourself
    And revenge is not justice
    Just wrong turned inside out


    - Mark Steensland
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  46. Gratitude expressed by 2 members:

  47. TopTop #2276
    Timothy Gega
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    They carved “Nigger Lover”
    On the hood of our car
    After Dad came back from Selma
    He went because he said he had to
    Just like he’d done in ’44
    To him it was the same war
    Fought in a different uniform
    But you there
    Breaking windows
    Just remember:
    You have no right to right
    If you do wrong yourself
    And revenge is not justice
    Just wrong turned inside out


    - Mark Steensland
    I (personally) was in the riots (as a victim) of the late 60s as a high school student. At the time I felt that these protestors had every right to protest. After all, they are humans and they should be given the same respect and dignity as any other person, (yet they weren’t).
    I had truly hoped that we would have turned the corner on this Racism, (a long-longtime ago) but today as we can witness, haters still exist and so does racism. (See GOP comments regarding Pres. Obama). This is such a terrible reflection of Society in America. My best friend and I both joined the US Air Force on our18th birthdays to fight for this freedom. I didn’t go, he returned from Vietnam in a casket. It seems to me that we fight too many foreign wars (for big corporations to expand) yet we cannot fight a real war here at home for Freedom to actually ring in clarity for every citizen here in America. It’s such a pity being #1…(from the bottom).
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  48. Gratitude expressed by:

  49. TopTop #2277
    Timothy Gega
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    PRISONERS OF HATE

    To create an enemy:
    Start with an empty canvas.

    Sketch in broad outline the forms of men, women and children.
    Obscure the sweet individuality of each face.
    Erase all hints of the myriad loves, hopes, fears that play through the kaleidoscope of every finite heart.
    Twist the smile until it forms the downward arc of cruelty.
    Exaggerate each feature until man is metamorphasized into beast, vermin, and insect.
    Fill the background with malignant figures from ancient nightmares – devils, demons, and myrmidons of evil.
    When your icon of the enemy is complete you will be able to kill without guilt and slaughter without shame.

    Quote by Sam Keen “Faces of the Enemy" (1986)
    (From “Prisoners of Hate” By: Aaron T. Beck, M.D., 1999)

    ©2009 Tim Gega Alpha Moonprayers
    Emotional Awareness & Literacy
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  50. Gratitude expressed by:

  51. TopTop #2278
    Sara S's Avatar
    Sara S
    Auntie Wacco

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    For a great vision of corporations and their relation to war, see the film "War Inc."

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Timothy Gega: View Post
    It seems to me that we fight too many foreign wars (for big corporations to expand) yet we cannot fight a real war here at home for Freedom to actually ring in clarity for every citizen here in America. It’s such a pity being #1…(from the bottom).
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  52. Gratitude expressed by:

  53. TopTop #2279
    Timothy Gega
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Sara S: View Post
    For a great vision of corporations and their relation to war, see the film "War Inc."
    Thank you Sara, (Auntie Wacco) for your constant support here. I will check out this movie, "War Inc."
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  54. TopTop #2280
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    The Light Beneath Sleep
    Sometimes, underneath deep sleep
    is a certain diffused glow,
    as, in the rainforest, luminous toadstools
    glow green among the leaf litter
    and beetles crawl about with winking abdomens.
    One night when I followed this glow
    I came to an upturned tree
    that was a kind of cathedral for glowworms
    and the light beat against my face, my chest and my hands.
    At the end of the corridor of sleep, a dream stands.
    It may be that at the end of the corridor of death
    there is the walking slightly uphill
    through the green fields;
    and then the light underneath sleep
    is both in front and behind.


    - John Tarrant
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  55. Gratitude expressed by 6 members:

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