You are a non person
We don't care about you
Only Westerners are human
You don't matter
We don't care...
Our atrocities
Are only atrocities if done
to persons.
You are a non person
So we can bomb you and maim you
You are "collateral" damage.
How dare you raise up
Against us
You terrorists.
Just because we take your land
and kill you non persons
Is no reason to attack us.
We are America
Uncle Sam
Benevolent Dictators of
the World
Bombs R Us
And we don't care
About non persons.
This poem comes out of my anger about the way the West (esp the US) treats people who are non Western. They are viewed as non persons, non human, and don't need our consideration. But one day everyone will have to face that humans are all persons, there is no out group of non persons. Western terrorism exists even if the West can not see this.
The term terrorist is a weighted one and depends on your point of view.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Saturday, February 14, 2015
S.L.A.M
S. Sexy, Saucy, Satisfying
L. Loud, Lovable, Lively
A. Amorous, Advanced, Awesome
M. Marvelous, Motivated, More, More, More!
L. Loud, Lovable, Lively
A. Amorous, Advanced, Awesome
M. Marvelous, Motivated, More, More, More!
SLAM - Explosive Growth in Performance Poetry
In one year in the 1920's there were only 15 public poetry readings in the whole of the US and 12 of them were by Robert Frost! I would say today that they would number in the tens of thousands. In the 1920's and before that the reading of poetry meant just that - you read the written poem but performance was not expected. Frost had a strong interest in sounds and sound poetry so he was willing to do live performances of his poetry.
In the last 10 years we have seen a tremendous democratization of poetry with a move away from the universities and into the libraries, coffee houses and bars with slam poetry and well attended meetings where poetry gains its voice.
This is a welcome trend and it has liberated poetry from formalism and placed it within the public eye (where it began and belongs).
Performance poetry continues the storytelling tradition of our earliest forbears who lived and declaimed in a pre-literate society.
Long live public poetry!
In the last 10 years we have seen a tremendous democratization of poetry with a move away from the universities and into the libraries, coffee houses and bars with slam poetry and well attended meetings where poetry gains its voice.
This is a welcome trend and it has liberated poetry from formalism and placed it within the public eye (where it began and belongs).
Performance poetry continues the storytelling tradition of our earliest forbears who lived and declaimed in a pre-literate society.
Long live public poetry!
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Why?
Why does poetry captivate me?
Where is my muse today?
Why do poems come in clusters,
Followed by a drought?
Good questions all.
The Muse of Poetry
Is whimsical
and I have learned
To follow her
According to her
Desire.
I was talking to a friend last night who was very surprised that I wrote poetry. I said I did it as a poetic diary to cover the places I have been and my feelings along life's journey. She wanted to know when I got interested in poetry, and how I got "inspired to write". It is all according to the Muse of Poetry - all poetry writers are beneath her thrall.
Where is my muse today?
Why do poems come in clusters,
Followed by a drought?
Good questions all.
The Muse of Poetry
Is whimsical
and I have learned
To follow her
According to her
Desire.
I was talking to a friend last night who was very surprised that I wrote poetry. I said I did it as a poetic diary to cover the places I have been and my feelings along life's journey. She wanted to know when I got interested in poetry, and how I got "inspired to write". It is all according to the Muse of Poetry - all poetry writers are beneath her thrall.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Language is a Virus - a Poem
This is a poem based upon an article called 66 Experiments by Charles Bernstein
Homolinguistic translation word for word
Heads the list, fair enough
And a homophonic translation of
atakallamu bil arrabiya illa qalilan
Becomes Atta lame bill scarab bee car
Pillar Carly Land
Tzaras hat's a random treat
Wildly mad libbing
Substitution cubed
Autopilot Synchronicity.
Drive traffic to your Blog
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Qatar Poems - Skyscrapers at Dawn
Jutting through the fog
The inner city buildings
Pierce the leaden sky
Standing erect in their
diaphanous gowns.
Qatar at dawn
Before the heat burns
Away
the emphemeral
covering that
Separates the building tops
From the ground.
In my 32nd floor cocoon
I enjoy the majesty
of the new day.
The inner city buildings
Pierce the leaden sky
Standing erect in their
diaphanous gowns.
Qatar at dawn
Before the heat burns
Away
the emphemeral
covering that
Separates the building tops
From the ground.
In my 32nd floor cocoon
I enjoy the majesty
of the new day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
