PEWTER POISONING

For years artists in metal used lead
they made pewter goblets and tin plates
over time,the casual ingestion of heavy metals
produced"lead poisoning"-industrialization compounded
the introduction of chemicals and toxic fluids and vapors
into our bodies that adapt until a threshold is reached
and our remains are placed in lead lined coffins
We live in toxic times-inhaling fumes@gas pumps
wondering why immune deficiencies provide opportunistic infections
Houston's chemical soup skies and refinery waters
define a city built upon a swamp,sending muck into the very air we breathe
Ozone alert days warn us.Mexican bushfires a symbol
There are no borders in air ,and water ends up inside us.
The challenge for our times is detoxification
Same as decommissioning nuclear weapons
and making sure radioactive materials are stored away from all water sources
I will not mention plastics and derivatives therefrom-
they are our modern pewter dilemma-whereby artifacts of domestic use pollute
us to the point of toxicity.We are only human-way past our USE BY date
The threshold has been passed in Fukoshima and Chenobyl
What will we do with this radiation-store it in eternal plastics?

REGIME CHANGE

"I am mad as hell and i am just not going to take it any more!"
so bubbled the fountain darter and the San Marcos gambusia
the Texas blind salamander and the Comal Springs riffle beetle
YES! chorused the Comal Springs dryopid beetle,the Peck's cave amphipod
along with every grain of Texas wild rice.It was not water but its lack they protested
one by one like waterholes drying up as heat took oxygen away from water
Even fat catfish bloated on the surface as funding cuts stressed teachers and librarians
All the invisible community volunteer bonds of goodwill strained by oceans of depletion/deprivation.
It was the smallest of us became most invisible-the obvious homeless lost habitat
were caged in research jails or simply gave up their lives in this interrogatory heat
Trees exhausted cried for water like prisoners.Gentle people robbed banks with written notes.
They could not afford a Tea Party ,nor a gun,nor threats -they cut their needs to the bone
yet even their bones needed to be parked somewhere.Governor Don't Care became God.
SECURITY reinforced insecurity.We are all threatened species.In the waters,we gather,muttering
One day the waters will rise up Tsunami Libya Syria Iran Palestine
Then we will see service over power,equality over cuts.
Goldfish bowl world.Who feeds you?Even the waters are crying...

"IMMACULATE INTERVENTIONS"

Do you remember the Concert For Bangla Desh?
It was supposed to alleviate hunger and starvation
Even The Beatles could not stop financial corruption
Food aid to Sudan is stolen via military/children die
while Somalia is reduced to clan warfare
WE ARE THE WORLD might give Band-Aid PR
it did not get donations through to those desperately needing support
This is not to say foreign aid is a lost cause-
intervention in failed states when famine and drought combine
is as necessary as water ,irrigation and hygiene programs
The problem is military-those with guns take from those without
From Mexican cartels killing journalists to headless mariachis
how can civilians control mad military might?Even militias march to borders
in the absurd pretense of economic betterment
Bombs and guns cost billions and kill us-
fund songs and poems,art and dance and healing programs
By consent of those at risk,new Marshall Plans will thrive
Deficit economics and austerity frauds mean a few rich
and too many unemployed .Time to support peace,love and justice.
Shift military spending to necessary civilian infrastructures-
food inspectors,environmental protectors,tree planting.
Immaculate interventions require imaginative initiatives-
money is only one form of energy.Goodwill another.
Time to remember we are all in this world together.

COMING IN TO CORONA(out of the hideout!

Fridays 4-7pm 1215 Corona Drive off Cameron
Gordon The White Rapper extends his welcome
to a thin cafe where the hospitality is gypsy
(they have this family lived 4 years in an RV-
traveling this Seattle/Austin geography
There is a map on the wall showing adventures
They are all ethical individuals
This hidden gem has art on walls
all it needs is y'all-to see and hear and share your joy
with those whose spot is oasis in the barren North
no generic stripped Malls-just a thin cafe
where the coffee and company are cool and warm
the smiles real,and the desire to meet more gypsies
extends every Friday from 4 till 7pm
They promise if you come,they will extend till evening
Until Zen,Corona is an aura in your spectrum
of available measures of pleasure-Dew Drop Inn!
FRIDAYS 4-7pm Corona Cafe 1215 Corona Drive off Cameron
Hosted by GORDON THE WHITE RAPPER!

snow dreaming

it is not white-but it is silence
covering all .adding shapes and forms that lead to mimesis
snow people/snowballs..Stick limbs protruding/tilted hats/carrot nose
coal eyes.Slush while melting,mess and grey .Black ice dangers.
Skid through this.Stop when chains are insufficient
Like slaves,throw off restraints.Wildly mutiny!
Snow will not resist,just absorb.Soft mountains.Wait for water melt
Flow down guttering.Collapse roofs.Implacable weight.Snapped plumbing.
Mountains morph into emotional hills to reclusive blocked walks.Wait.
Time is water,running out.We become smaller under snowfall.
Winter is patience and endings.Lives of snowflakes,falling.
Merging in to one a lesson of snow.Non-negotiable instrument.
Mass over weight over time.Your life is snow.Fall...

FOR FRANCES FARMER

Blonde and bright in black and white movies
Poet,journalist,actress-you joined The Group

Clifford Odets used your Hollywood cache

exploited you for support/you loved

but were not loved/and when the gloss wore off

You were incarcerated/imprisoned in asylum

largely because you were ferocious

and would not submit to THE SYSTEM

Your monies disappeared/your own mother waged war

upon your only sense of identity/your autobiography 

a journey to hells far worse than Hell.This human prison

you were celled within-all that has been 

did not stop you evolving-through alcohol and television

until you found acceptance within a family

and the god you rejected at 16

returned at 45 to calm your savage seas.

You lived so fully there was no room for others' dramas

The scripts you followed were written by others

When you finally found your own,it was alone

To be @peace,you had to leave all love

Burn anger to the bone,and find your only home

upon the stage.Rage could be channeled

All you wished was to be alone

but that was someone else's line

from another lifetime

WILD ROSES

Growing abandoned by the railway tracks-as children they seemed huge

as we grew,they shrank.Now mere tiny outbursts of stubborn beauty insubordination

Red they were-positive as blood pain.We would be nicked and pricked

but still temptation reigned-to hold them was enough/to gather more in bundles

present them as fresh gifts as wilderness-little outlaws with their heads cut off.

Blood reminds me how reticent they were-they drew blobs when sweaty palms held too close

their green unbending resistances.No romance this-just stripped bunches of red desperadoes.

Do outlaws become roses when they sweat?Are gardens just cages for the wild?

Do birds know the difference between domestic and feral?Do children?

Somehow we recognized their rebellion as our own

In solidarity,we gifted authority figures with their ransom

We were more free via their beauty.We delivered them up to our gods.

They could then add sugar and stand them in tortured vases as signs

that the wild in us could be bunched and gathered and tamed and held

by the railway tracks we learned to be wild ourselves

It was the roses led the way!

"PERCEPTUAL GEOGRAPHY"(a la Michael Barnes)

i see 1969 on the streets of Austin-young retro warriors

with torn jeans and Asian fashions-looking like hitching hippies

yet with an innocence that belies their attitudes

1930s resurrect in homeless beggars camping in the green belt

petitioning like Buddha Kerouac /@every musical intersection.

Retro shops recycle 1950s skirts and suits

with Buddy Holly glasses and rockabilly music

90s nerds play PACMAN in foyers of arcades and Malls

while 80s Gordon Geckos still stalk Congress Avenue

Starbucks in their hands and no stars in their eyes

You can fall in to a time warp easily here-

believe the cliche"Music Capital of the World !"

or (if you wish)-DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS!

Both are true in certain quarters-as is black jazz Eastside

alongside new yuppie eateries with max cool stylings

Every stage of every age awaits-preppies,yuppies,hippies,punks-

all defined by musical venues attended via choice

with magazines(or zines)to affirm their chosen timewarp

It is 2011-110 degree heat  and endless drought

Women wear less and men care less.Homeless distressed

Yet still this spectrum of available fashion options-

all available within the perceptual geography -of Austin!

CALAMITY COMMUNITY

Now a hurricane has hit East Coast/we stock up

evacuate or remain in dangerous houses/knowing

these winds will blow on through

New Orleans a metaphor for community

Looting and shootings by police as true

as every cat and dog and horse rescue(and people,too!

who were welcomed in Austin and who felt part of community-but tell me

why does it take a calamity to precipitate community?

Whether these are Bibical times/End Times/The Last (Armageddon) Days

why are we so fascinated with destruction and devastation?

Why do we celebrate September 11 

and not November 11(Armistice Day-the end of wars..

There seems something perverse in worshiping dead gods-

Mars,Jove,Jupiter,Jesus,Buddha,Fat Elvis,John Lennon

Joe The Plumber should not run for Congress

Real communities exist beneath headlines and bylines and faux journalism

We are bound and freed by ,with and for each other-each to each

and we have nowhere else to go

so love ,strengthen,support and encourage each other

or...

BUDDHIST COMEDY

i have removed all the punch lines so no one gets hurt

Comedy is a corporation,censored for mass audiences

"The truth?You CAN'T HANDLE the truth!"

so news is entertainment,celebrity sandwiches

made for fast food mass consumption

and the truly offensive jokes are privately shared-

grief,horror,pain,loss and death-these are fine wines

kept in dark cellars like crazy relatives

made to be shared only with consenting adults

The best of hiphop is humorous/satire relies upon shock

in the midst of the prosaic,death interrupts a holiday

to bring you AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

(you are going to die.the end.)You stay to read the credits

"i would like to thank the Academy,my parents,my family...

Every little death is a rehearsed joke.Some fall flat.

The best are in bad taste-Russian jokes about Siberia

Jewish jokes about gas chambers.September 11 jokes

To deal with tragedy,we use comedy.It is not,nor ever was

funny.

COUNTING BREATHS

when you are rationed,you apportion

each breath.One for yoga,another gym,a third Pilates

Fourth meditation(though it is said every breath is 

Fifth is listening/a service necessary ,rare

Sixth is walking-to keep your body here

Seventh is sharing-to see your mirroring

Eighth is singing /playing/laughing

Ninth is giving breaths away.This way they return

This is how we arrive @the tenth commandment-

to give is to live.Every breath is...

I saw 1967 on the streets -long hair,thin girlfriend

even when we advance,we still flashback

WOLF MOTHER

Ferocious on behalf of her children-adopted,birth,scrappy street vixens

even when they bite the hand that feeds them(she feeds them/again

Gathers them in circles near fire and keeps them warm

Something ancestral makes her defend these weak

even when they bark @her,chide her when she speaks

She mild as milk until someone threatens her young/broken ones

then flash of eye and hand and sword/martial arts in a Martial poem