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.
Showing posts with label #poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #poetry. Show all posts
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.
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.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Qatar Poems - Sitting with my eLibrary
It's very different,
I'm not sure how it happened,
But here I am,
In my Leather Armchair
And my library is sitting on
the arm of my chair.
Not as impressive
as my physical library
Packed up half a world away
But here in Qatar
my book lust has to
be satisfied with my
Kindled iPad and me.
I'm not sure how it happened,
But here I am,
In my Leather Armchair
And my library is sitting on
the arm of my chair.
Not as impressive
as my physical library
Packed up half a world away
But here in Qatar
my book lust has to
be satisfied with my
Kindled iPad and me.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Galoush for Stephanie
Life is fun and then we die
But on the way we share our
hopes, our aspirations
and our recipes.
Sitting in the cool of the afternoon
my daughter, Stephanie, peruses
her mothers recipe book.
A new family dish is invented,
The contents the same but the name has changed.
From now on we will eat
Hungarian galoushes
No pedestrian goulashes for us.
The galoosh, or galoush is a cunning dish
Renaming it will let it know
We are onto his devious ways..
But on the way we share our
hopes, our aspirations
and our recipes.
Sitting in the cool of the afternoon
my daughter, Stephanie, peruses
her mothers recipe book.
A new family dish is invented,
The contents the same but the name has changed.
From now on we will eat
Hungarian galoushes
No pedestrian goulashes for us.
The galoosh, or galoush is a cunning dish
Renaming it will let it know
We are onto his devious ways..
Friday, March 7, 2014
The Qatar Poems - an explanation
Poetry is a very evocative reminder of ones life and adventures. I use this poetry blog as an electronic poetic journal. During my three yesrs in the UK I wrote many poems (see blog posts from 2008-2011). Back in New Zealand I wrote a series of outlaw and experimental poems as well as some regional poetry describing the Waikato around Hamilton. I am now on contract in Qatar and I am writing a series of Qatar poems that I will publish when I leave.
Apart from a short stint in Thailand, Qatar is the place that has been the most culturally different from my upbringing in New Zealand. I found that working in the US, UK and Australia was very close to living in New Zealand, but Qatar has been a complete change and cultural challenge. The first 3 months were very strange but after 7 months I found myself feeling at home. My wife joined me after 6 months and she is still going through the I hate Qatar phase. She is a country girl and I have taken her from a farmlet in the country to the deserts and dryness of Qatar. The adjustment has been dislocating for her but I recognise the cycle she is going through.
I'm sure I will look through these poems in years to come and they will strengthen my memories of my time here.
As I learn more Arabic, I am feeling more at ease. You will know this has infiltrated my mind when Arabic phrases make their way into the poems.
Peace
Grant
Apart from a short stint in Thailand, Qatar is the place that has been the most culturally different from my upbringing in New Zealand. I found that working in the US, UK and Australia was very close to living in New Zealand, but Qatar has been a complete change and cultural challenge. The first 3 months were very strange but after 7 months I found myself feeling at home. My wife joined me after 6 months and she is still going through the I hate Qatar phase. She is a country girl and I have taken her from a farmlet in the country to the deserts and dryness of Qatar. The adjustment has been dislocating for her but I recognise the cycle she is going through.
I'm sure I will look through these poems in years to come and they will strengthen my memories of my time here.
As I learn more Arabic, I am feeling more at ease. You will know this has infiltrated my mind when Arabic phrases make their way into the poems.
Peace
Grant
Qatar Poems - The Whanau Returns
From home they came
in the sky waka.
Wife and daughter
Back to the deserts
of lovely Qatar.
Leaving Aotearoa
with roimata,
Arriving in Doha
with roimata.
Tane whispered,
E whanau mā, haramai rā,
haramai.
Note: waka - canoe, Aotearoa - New Zealand, roimata - tears, E whanau ma, haramai ra, haramai - Family, Welcome, Welcome
Monday, February 24, 2014
To Do List Found Poetry
This poem was constructed from taking every 3rd word from the To Do list found on my desk today. Enjoy.
Issues templates Physician
35 Action Medical
Next Issues running
What Owens April a Analysis.
Weeks forward Surgeon retreat
CCC State One SME Manoj
Hyperion of match a out a clinicians
HR program to access 210
Is it poetry, I think it is, but feel free to differ. Experimental poetry is fun.
Issues templates Physician
35 Action Medical
Next Issues running
What Owens April a Analysis.
Weeks forward Surgeon retreat
CCC State One SME Manoj
Hyperion of match a out a clinicians
HR program to access 210
Is it poetry, I think it is, but feel free to differ. Experimental poetry is fun.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
The Combine - Enemy of True Education
The Combine - Enemy of True Education
The Combine
relentlessly
crushes and destroys
the spirits of our young
Learn to sit to stand
to take orders without
thought or conscience.
The Combine furthers
its grips on peon
humanity educating
them for its own interests.
Extinguishing the flame
of true learning
of creativity and
the interests of all
people on the earth.
From the Combine spews forth
pollution of thought and land
of peace
Making filthy lucre
from the misery of
the earths people.
But Look! here come
the forces of the home schooled
unschooled,deschooled.
No longer bowing to the Beast,
Learning freely,
imbibing deeply from the fountains
of true learning.
Cleansed and purified of the
corrupting influences
of schools carrying out
the mandate of the evil,
of those who contaminate the
earth in the name of
Mammon.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Qatar Winter
Everyone said
it never gets below
20 degrees...
But it does.
It is Winter
and surprisingly
I'm cold.
13 degrees
is 40 degrees off
the Summer High
So here I am
feeling cold
in the middle
of this desert state.
DK
it never gets below
20 degrees...
But it does.
It is Winter
and surprisingly
I'm cold.
13 degrees
is 40 degrees off
the Summer High
So here I am
feeling cold
in the middle
of this desert state.
DK
Monday, October 7, 2013
Vigil
Awake through the long night
Uncomfortably perched
on an airport recliner
8 hours of boredom.
A jolt of coffee
and a bite to eat
Opens the eyes
focusing the mind.
Now there is only
16hours of flying to go
until I return
to my
Ithaca.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
The Battle
Slowly my mind
turns over the
new words and
phrases
of another tongue.
He who has another
language has another
mind
or so the
philosophers
tell us.
But my brain aches as
I learn to speak
Arabic
bin Araby
Hal tatakallamu Al Araby?
I do
but only a little.
Still I know
that soon my brain
will stretch and turn
and accommodate
this new
way of conversing
Inshallah.
turns over the
new words and
phrases
of another tongue.
He who has another
language has another
mind
or so the
philosophers
tell us.
But my brain aches as
I learn to speak
Arabic
bin Araby
Hal tatakallamu Al Araby?
I do
but only a little.
Still I know
that soon my brain
will stretch and turn
and accommodate
this new
way of conversing
Inshallah.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Man Flu
Shivering miserably on the sofa
Cold and not so well
poorly in fact
But she who
must be obeyed
Says I only have
Man flu...
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Qatar Living
Doha
Splendid city
Exotic to me
Through Western eyes.
Sitting on a desert
beside the sea
resplendent
in beauty.
Splendid city
Exotic to me
Through Western eyes.
Sitting on a desert
beside the sea
resplendent
in beauty.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Oblivion
Why do we wish
for what we can not
have
and search for the
unsearchable?
What drives us from our homes
to scurry
to and fro
in the maelstrom of life?
I guess if we knew
we would not do
And if we did not do,
then what?
Oblivion?
for what we can not
have
and search for the
unsearchable?
What drives us from our homes
to scurry
to and fro
in the maelstrom of life?
I guess if we knew
we would not do
And if we did not do,
then what?
Oblivion?
Monday, April 29, 2013
Delight
Delight in the moment
In the small things
that happen.
Life is a momentary
phenomenon
lived between
the past
and future.
Be alive
to receive
what life gives you.
A laugh, a smile
the feel of warm air
on skin.
Enjoy before you die
where delight is no more
found.
In the small things
that happen.
Life is a momentary
phenomenon
lived between
the past
and future.
Be alive
to receive
what life gives you.
A laugh, a smile
the feel of warm air
on skin.
Enjoy before you die
where delight is no more
found.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Coleridge on Poetry
'I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is prose; words in their best order; - poetry; the best words in the best order.'
S.T.Coleridge
The best words in the best order. True, but O so hard to do. I guess this is a function of the focus needed to write good poetry. It is an act of labor as well as of love (or angst). Maybe that is why Coleridge took drugs LOL.
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Venting via Poetry
Writing poetry is a very good venting mechanism for those times when you are angry, dissatisfied, annoyed or generally feeling upset. There is a catharsis in capturing your thoughts and reining them in. The Outlaw Poets are very accomplished in this form of venting.
You may in fact surprise yourself. I find that in such venting I often tap into some unconscious thoughts that I was unaware of. The words you use and their tone are often expressions of hidden and unexpressed thoughts.
So if you are angry, get it out and write a poem.
You may in fact surprise yourself. I find that in such venting I often tap into some unconscious thoughts that I was unaware of. The words you use and their tone are often expressions of hidden and unexpressed thoughts.
So if you are angry, get it out and write a poem.
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