Saturday, October 29, 2011

An Ode to Fungus

Now that fall is giving way to winter, I'm going to re-post a poem that I wrote two years ago, about this very night. The first killing frost, and the last night for mushrooms until the thaw.

Hark A Poem

The mushrooms will come no more.
The Bishop’s Mitre succumbs to hoar
Standing firm in proud virtue
They soon know a cold that's all and true

The Marasmius fairy rings do crack and brown
Nipples held aloft will
Soften, then lay down
In short cropped pasture
In long neglected lawn
The night time dancing fairy rituals
Which go unseen are gone.

Chanterelles, which have heroically
parted and plied the duff
Will soften, ooze and rot,
Having said enough is enough.
My dear Cyanescens
Who seem to know their part,
Will brown, blue, black
Thus finishing their art.

Solace does show on this frosty morning
New light shimmers on bejeweled ice of night
Crowned in gold, the sparrows
As they spread their wings in flight.
And yet, firm wine Russulas
Continue in their way.

In moist moss forests
Feed Flying Squirrels by night
Scaphinotus beetles in the day.
The time of the fungus, again it’s come and gone.
Cycle upon cycle, darkness spins to dawn.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Face of a Revolution

If I hear anything from any of my friends or relatives about this just being Hippies and Losers with no concrete message again I might explode. You fucking unimaginative cowards, of course many of the first people to join a movement are going to be those most marginalized, or those already in conflict with the government. That includes homeless gutter punks, shiftless hippies, thespians, artists and yes, some anarchists, and even people with mental illness. Who were you expecting, John Adams and Paul Revere? Who do you think began the shit storm in Tahrir Square?? It was students and women, and then the rest of the nation joined in. Just as those are joining the Wall Street Revolution as we speak, in every city across this molding nation. Fifty thousand people last night!

I don't know one single person who disagrees with the message of Occupy Wall Street, not one. I've read a few rants by bankers and politicians, but I've yet to meet some one who thinks the level of Corporate power in our government and what Wall Street firms did to our economy with impunity isn't outrageous. See the root of that; Outrage!! Where is yours?

Now, I'm going to get a little more into what has been happening and why people think the Lotion Man is Occupy Wall Street. You see, the movement is ALL encompassing, meaning these sentiments are shared by all, from Ron Paul supporters to Hari Krishnas to even nihlistic, homeless gutter punks and probably, even you. Now, a lot of these people crave the spot light, and I would venture to guess, attention is something that's been lacking in their lives, as they are homeless. The main stream media is more than willing to put their crazy talk out to the masses, because that just gives you more reason to stay home in your condo, and watch Dancing with the Stars instead of joining in solidarity. We know that you feel powerless and that your vote doesn't matter. We all lost hope with the fizzling of Obama's fortitude. But what these crazy, awesome people down in Liberty Plaza in Wall Street are giving you is your voice back. This is your chance to find your power and express your voice. Washington DC and the status quo are quaking in their boots right now. It is time to be the New Revolution, and the sooner you join, the better you will feel about yourself.

The Wall Street Revolution will be televised, but those broadcasts will always tell their Big Money loving side of the story. The only way you will know what it is all about is to go for yourself, or to seek out more information. BP oil is still washing ashore in the Gulf of Mexico, today. Really. When's the last time you heard about that? BP gave Obama more money than ANY other politician in history. Is that the kind of democracy you want to live in? Me either. Joining the Wall Street Revolution does not have to mean taking to the streets. You can send supplies, you can write your elected officials in support, or you can just talk about it in public, and help stir the pot. It will happen with or without you, I'm just trying to re-awaken in you what it feels like to be human and to own your own destiny and to feel, and to turn your hopelessness, anger or despondency into a constructive force that will help re-shape this once great nation into something that resembles what our fore-fathers and so many soldiers have sacrificed so much for. It's in our hands.

Monday, October 3, 2011

My Occupy Wall Street Experience: Part I


Part of the reason that I wanted to go to Wall Street was to see what this whole thing is about for myself. After my experience with the BP oil disaster, I am all too suspicious of how the main stream media treats inconvenient news, ie. news that might somehow hurt the bottom line. What I had seen and heard was that the scene was chaotic, led by a bunch of no good hippies, and that it wasn't going anywhere. What I felt though, was that perhaps, this might be the beginning of the real paradigm shift that we've all been longing for. If that is true, I can't just sit by and watch it on ABC.

Upon arrival in Zuccoti Square, now known as Liberty Plaza, the birthplace of the new revolution, my first impressions were varied. Immediately, the "gutter punk" contingent was evident, as were some sloppy signs, some with some pretty incoherent messages painted on them, but there were also MANY people my age or older, and families and children, all fighting for your future. Having a camera around my neck kind of put me on the other side of the lines, and seemed to raise some suspicions and establish a barrier between myself and many of the people gathered there. I spent the whole day yesterday working through that, and getting over it in my own head.

For me the major issue in our country and world is the extended and over-represented hand of Big Corporate Money in our government and in our electoral process. I see this is an easy fix, at least, the legislation is easy to draft, and if we can gather the steam to apply sufficient pressure going in to the 2012 election cycle I really think we have a solid opportunity to create and affect change.

It's simple math, corporations have a single mandate, which is to make money. Given that, they must take it upon themselves to affect legislation and the political process in EVERY manner possible that might benefit the corporation. There is no choice. It is the sole reason for their existence. Given this truth, and the lee way that our government has continued to expand, most appallingly when the supreme court ruled in favor of corporations in January, 2010 and increased their first amendment rights as well as their ability to affect elections. Given these FACTS, there is no way that our government can now or ever will function for the people but will ALWAYS be over represented by the 1% of the world that controls half of the wealth and resources, unless we change this NOW.

This is the basis for EVERY single problem in our world and our society, environmental, social, fiscal, etc., and can only continue to worsen. That is a truth that I think everyone can get on board with. And, if that's the case, I think now is the time that you ask yourself, even if it is just a bunch of hippies, down on Wall Street, (which it's not), can you afford NOT to join them??

My biggest fear is that our people are so distracted and apathetic that if the media can manage to play this right, it might just fizzle out before you get the chance. One big round up by the police and another distraction like say, bombing Pakistan, maybe the world will just forget about the opportunity we had once to take the reins back on this run away carriage, and slow this contraption down before it rattles apart and explodes in a cloud of splinters of what might have been. if we miss this opportunity, I shudder to think of the repercussions. I very much fear an apathetic backlash of insurmountable consequence if this movement fails.

So, en fin, my lasting impression as I left Wall Street was one of hope. I feel that every day, the message becomes more concrete, and more and more people embrace the possibility to exist in the world as real people and not automated consumer-bots. The people occupying Wall Street are a well educated, age diverse, and politically varied crowd from angry gutter punks to raging grannies to patriotic trade unions, each with their own valid opinion on the state of the world and what we need to do to change it, but the common denominator is that they know a change MUST come above all else, and they have the courage to stand up and shout it in a very hostile land. Have you got that courage?

And Now, a wonderful poem of solemn inspiration:

Shine, Perishing Republic

by

Robinson Jeffers



While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily thickening

to empire

And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out,
and the
mass hardens,

I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots

to make earth.

Out of the mother; and through the spring exultances, ripeness and decadence;

and home to the mother.

You making haste haste on decay: not blameworthy; life is good, be it stubbornly

long or suddenly

A mortal splendor: meteors are not needed less than mountains:

shine, perishing republic.

But for my children, I would have them keep their distance from the thickening
center; corruption

Never has been compulsory, when the cities lie at the monster's feet there

are left the mountains.

And boys, be in nothing so moderate as in love of man, a clever servant,

insufferable master.

There is the trap that catches noblest spirits, that caught – they say –

God, when he walked on earth.