Thursday, September 22, 2011

Nearing the Guillotine

D'Verse is hosting it's weekly Poetics prompt, where Kellie Elmore is hosting tonight.  The prompt she offers is to write about something, anything of a Taboo nature.  While normally I'd whip something up fresh and new, I thought I'd post a piece I wrote about a month ago as I think it fits tonight's bill fairly well.  This piece got a bunch of reads, but only one person wrote something I could publish in the comments.  I got a ton of comments though, which is the main reason I'm posting this tonight.

I love how Kellie wrote in her write-up that the worst mistake a poet can make is by playing it safe and worrying about what others think.  I agree, and that said, if you disagree, or are offended by this piece, please leave a comment.  I will post it, that is if it's respectful.  I know the crowd at D'Verse and this really didn't need any mention, but I thought seeing the last batch with this piece there was a lot of crudeness and some downright vile responses, I'd just put it down.

Anyhow, I have no problem if you disagree, but I will not edit the responses to post it.

Those who read me regularly know that no subject is off limits, and taboo is just another word to me, so I really am looking forward to reading the other contributions.

Thanks again, and with the disclaimer and all, I'm sure many are itching to see what all the fuss is about, so without further ado:




First this piece is pretty straightforward.  I've thrown in some references, but feel I don't need to explain them.  They are historical in nature but I'm assuming they aren't strange to anyone.  If so, I apologize up front- Ask me and I'll explain them.

Anyhow, I was reading a book about the 1800's.  It's kind of a capsule of sorts, explaining the majority of major acts that took place throughout the world.  It's, I believe 8 volumes.  Anyhow, while reading this I got this idea.  Well, not entirely.  I've been disappointed with the way the world is heading, especially here in the states.  It's not just disappointment- It feels like fraud.  I don't need to go on any further, you'll get the drift in the piece, I'm sure of that.  It will at times feel like a rant, well I'm hoping only one section does, as that was planned- for the rest- I hope not, but one can never tell.

One more sidebar before the Next to final act- Little bit of Vaudeville reference there- I used to be a staunch Republican.  Almost all of my life.  My family members are all Republicans, outside of my sister anyhow.  Almost all of my friends are Republicans.  Well I used to be one too.  While I still believe in much of what the party stands for, I WILL NO LONGER categorize myself as belonging to any single affiliation.  Lines have been crossed by both sides and I've found, as my personal situation has changed, both in Health and in Economy that I've been let down, and I'm not the only one- again another topic, but it ties in here. My eyes have grown wide, and boy are they seeing things from different angles these days.  And what I'm seeing is scaring the hell out of me.  If trends continue I'm scared of what just may come.

So today, well for a bit of time now actually, I've found myself agreeing to ideas that at one time I would have scoffed at.  I find myself leaning in various directions, ISSUE dependent, not trusting the elected, and I think that's important, and much too simple to not be widespread.  The days of blind trust in elected officials are gone.  Believing in what's right, again depending on each issue independently.  The days of Conservative Vs. Liberal are over with for me.  I don't care about the pissing contests or the Boys Clubs. I just want resolutions.  And not those that have been built in appeasing manners.  The RIGHT ones are what matter.  Anyhow, just had to get some of this off my chest.

Ok, enough of that.  I may throw something political out from time to time, but nothing to this magnitude.  Anyway, enough gibber-jabber:


I pity the fledglings
         For the flagon’s dry
I pity the flesh
         For irritants abound

Alieni Juris, we to you
Yet you take all from us

When lethargy comprises form.  When Darkness boils from.  Underground, back-lot shakes of sweat.  Sui Juris, you rightfully decree.  Yet in the process our keepers become our enemy.

Slingshot luck riddles corridors and passageways.  Skin clings to bone, eyes widening not from surprise.  Castes cut from tiers to two, the majority beneath the heels of the minor few.  Direct correlation can be drawn, for inactivity, progression lacks; as desperation’s levee breaks, there’s but one direction for man to take.

At such a pace, the likelihood rises, of a return to 1848-

Indignation’s ogling gaze and flatteries of spite,
 Moths, they do believe, hold steadier streams of light.  Condescension builds acute ells, to which only ignorance cannot foresee the breaking dam to come.  As each spill touches pavement hot, transformed are the meekest into Jacobin.  A new reign I do fear, a terror through- led by, what some will deem Incorruptible while others will chip lips in their reference of, Dictateur Sanguinaire.  Oh, how devolution collates scourge, when barrels bottoms satiate the tongue.  And destitution lives, as the only savored cut of meat.

The days of errant Knights are gone to grave. The Ire of our ancestry- like shrapnel, surfaces the skin.  Martyrs and sacrificial lambs, break first the line of finest thread.  If such a straw even wrinkles atop the Camel’s back, I fear it’ll be Austria all over again.

Paupers, soiled spots of dark, hurriedly scamper through, crowds of disillusioned bodies bare, all to return, stale loaves to stave, the starvation of familial fare.  But Détente will soothe some alms surface clean, while wheels of motion troll beneath.  For the good of the people, a military state I fear repeats.  Where bread thieves and rapists both, shot on sight.  Some deserving, the others, mainly kids.

Bide time the rules will try.  Ebbs in aggression will surely show.  But in the time it takes for recognition, policing poached policy will be fibrously in stew.  A quarantined society, looked down upon in view- composed of feeble flesh, pawn tickets still searing the broken hand, singed by lex loci delicti and Lettres De Cachet- a pigmentation of scurvy spawns distrust and lye.
A world where Habeas Corpus is written away, there’ll be no absolution for the poor or lost, in a world where only the rich and corruptible can stare out from their parapets, and let the wash dry off.

I pity the Henchmen
         For their piece of the crown
I pity the Everyman,
         For the salvation not found

Moats might fill the foxholes formed, to shelter the elected from their citizens.  Metropolitans sophisticate and debonair, while their constituencies skitter beneath the grates with paranoid care.  Tempers boil at what respect is not earned.  Pin the peon by the tale, Cake-eaters regal in their generosity, press conferences held in New Times Square, where monuments hail the offering of lint.  Yet they believe the lint shall offer sustenance, ignoring the screams, as death camps are built upon the tombs of our forefathers, rolling over now.  Rations severed when ages seek.  Running men will seek their stakes. And into the coliseum the Christians are sent.

Straps of leather draping chest
Shields of tin to protect
Blades of dignity shred
While the dignitaries cheer with approving bobs of head

Battle-bound are the children
The loser at the hands of brother or friend
The Winner separates forever from all of them

Tears stream the face of the victor, pausing in prayer
Yet the executioners, statesmen and leaders of men
Cheer the act, screaming while thumbs point below

I pity the hoodwinked
         For scars birthed unseen
I pity the Well-wishers
         For the Chrysalis has drowned

Politicians must unite, for it was we, the commoners that offered our faith, believing in each of you. 


Your role is simple: To protect your people, to fight for what is in the best interest of the entirety.  It makes little sense to favor any one part, when it’s the whole you should be taking account.  Petty squabbles lead to hostaged hearts and threat-laced demands only breed disinterest and contempt.

Disband your addiction to greed.  If millions of coin, still flow through your accounts, what does it matter if forgotten sums will shelter and feed your fellow man.  So, it’s because you don’t like to be told what you can or cannot do. So, you claim you’ve earned the right to spit upon those who have helped build you become you. 

Yet, what honor is there in casting blame, to previous holders of your seat and shame?  What about dealing with the hands you’ve been dealt?  What happened to our belief in you, this time, not dangling potential as a bargaining chip for another term?  The days of sleight of hand have devoured enough.  The camera tricks have blinded us.  IT DOES NOT MATTER how spectacular your Oratory skills impress.

You both, each and all, have let us down. 
You’ve quarreled on the largest stage.
Your stubbornness has debased a people. 
Our disappointment runs much farther than any one woman or man or any particularity of view. 
Our disappointment is bi-partisan.  Grow up.  Lead. Listen intently. Instead of aiming for compromise, act creatively. Act productively.  Cast aside the barterers tongue.  Cast aside how a decision may help or harm future campaign funds. 
Remember the Oath’s you all took and live up to each of them. 
If you fail you fail, but for crying out loud TRY. 
And remember, there is much more at stake here than the egos of you and your crones. 
So you stood your ground, yeah you’ve shown them.
WHO?  WHO exactly have you shown and WHAT? 
It’s all pathetic, childish and reprehensible, especially when the ground is swelling with the freshly dead.

Sacrifice should be apportioned
Sacrifice should not be equal
Those with the most to spare
Should be the ones to loosen the noose
Around those who’ve not enough as is.

If this trend continues
Drifting at the present current
If this incompetence speeds forth
Don’t assume the next in line will save the day
As they may simply fill the vacancy and choose to
Act in entitlement- Snubbing their noses at the suffocate

Solve ills now
Work together, as a whole- you don’t need to have a beer at the pub.  You don’t need to attend each other’s children’s recitals; you don’t have to like each other, Hatred is fine.  Just resolve this discombobulated mess.
There are no parties where I’m concerned
There is but the ethical, the moral, and the just
But, I fear that if this trend continues
History may repeat itself
I have no hope.  I have no trust
Prove your worth.  Prove yourselves
All of you, and start now and own your role
Piss off a few lobbyists.  Renege on the “internal politics”, those promises and assurances, that you granted your funders, your benefactors.  Simply tell them times are much different now, things are bigger than what you want, deserve. 
Show us, that even an unknown voice
Show us, that even the mute
Have as strong a say as each of you.
Offer possibility.

Knees on floor

Here is your church
Here is your steeple
Open the doors-
And SEE your people
They are looking upstairs
We are saying our prayers

Yet-

I FEAR

Hope is but the Coat of Arms
         For the Damned
It’s easier to feel terrified
         When threats are constant
It’s easier to be scared
         When feet won’t allow the throats air

If the present becomes the future
I fear Caron will appear
And tokens will be everywhere

  


 

  

12 comments:

  1. Ahh yes a sad state of affair indeed. You'd think all the history would tell these idiots that something has to be done or just doomed to repeat it over and over again, but ohhh no can't do that. Sure some want it because it fills their pocket book, then there is the whole conspiracy theory angle, which is a whole different kettle of fish. Either way it seems the hole just keeps getting deeper and deeper and there is no way out for anyone. It's down right pathetic. Shit is really going to hit the fan over and over again before any real change comes, yep scary as hell for sure.

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  2. Pat, yeah, how many times over the years, in books, television, in papers on the news and yes in film, do you hear the phrase History repeats itself. Yet no one seems to heed it as a warning, they simply act as if it's of no consequence and continue to act in cyclical spins. I guess you could attribute it to human nature, but I'd like to think that we're better than that, and if we're not, well that's pretty darned disappointing of a thought. It is pathetic the way things are going, and I just hope that things will right themselves, integrity will loom large and the corruption that so often is synonymous with politics will shred clear. Fear is ever-present and it would just be nice to see things and not be scared. Thanks for your well-thought, strong remarks. Glad you enjoyed the write and as always, thanks for hanging out

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  3. wow dude lots of great lines in here...and i whole heartedly agree with you...i think in many ways the politicans are more loyal to their pack than their people and vote party over ideals which keeps us firmly rooted in the shit...and pocket books far bigger than ours turn the wheels with kick backs we cant meet but damn man something has got to change...caste system of two indeed...

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  4. Deep and well considered work dear Fred

    extensive, interesting and diverse

    likely to need a couple of reads to fully digest -
    on first read - plenty to like

    apart from anything your love of words and subject are clear and inspiring - you're pushing the envelope and that is to be admired

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  5. politics and religion are all about power, and as long as the weak don't go away, the politicians and theologians will have their prey.

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  6. History repeating itself is history repeating itself. Fred...my response to this could fill a book! I will refrain from doing so, but I will say that I hope all this 2012 stuff and the end of the world simply means we are ALL going to finally wake up! My god...we've got 99% standing on the street screaming for help and they can't even get news coverage! Whoops...starting to go all soapboxy...sorry!

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  7. Wow, Fred: you poured out heart and soul in this piece-- it would take so long to properly digest it and write about it in an informed way, but the initial impact is huge. It seems to me to be a tough-love letter to Obama in a way-- perhaps you should send it to him as a pdf or something. Intense, brilliant, a mirror of this latitude and longitude of our desperate need and fear--xxxj

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  8. Loved your rant, and its surrounding scaffold of history and reasoned argument(well, it seemed quite reasoned to me, because I agreed with it.;_) We are totally doomed in this country if we continue with the bankrupt two party system we have now(and I say this as a lifelong democrat totally disillusioned)--from a democracy of modest landowners and workers, we've become a plutocracy of ultra wealthy and everyone else--as you say many castes become two classes. We need new leadership, not people giving lip service to 'changing the way Washington works' when the way it works is what fills their pockets and makes them rich and powerful. Why would they change it? They have to be forced to, and until we have other parties, a labor party, a green party, a pacifist party, other voices with votes--putting up a fight for their territory--they'll never change.

    But that's just me. I do know people are in the streets all over the world right now, and our time's coming. Excuse my rant, Fred. And I welcome you to the land of the post-partisan.

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  9. wow, Fred this is powerful in emotions, message, and delivery. The whole thing about history repeating itself is so human nature. Don't most parents try to prevent their kids from making the same mistakes they did and don't most kids ignore their parents and make the mistakes anyhow? Tough aspects to consider. I am not sure anyone knows what to do, let alone how to do it, at this point.

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  10. What I am learning (again) from this 'taboo' filled evening is that while I may be a bit shy about a certain topic it is difficult for other people to shock me. I score high on the five factor IPIP in openness to experience so I have enjoyed taking in this evening of let loose politics, religion, sex, etc. I don't think it's that shocking to demand accountability, integrity, and excellence. Good for you for being willing to change your mind when the times changed. We need solutions not fear-mongering. Oh wait, how disappointing of me, at least I should knock over some furniture or shout obscenities before I go ;)!

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  11. think this is brilliant a missive for change based on what has past before ...I agree in it's entirety and think you wrote it with passion and from the heart ....thank you so much for sharing !

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  12. Really glad so many of you appreciated the piece. Taboo topics aren't something I tend to shy away from but you always do wonder how people will react to the posts. The first go around I had some people replying as I mentioned, which is why i thought this piece must be considered controversial, which of course I didn't think it to be really. For me I consider it a call out, as something certainly does need to be done, fore the direction is not looking good. Thanks for all the replies and feedback, I really appreciate each of them:)

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