Nemesis

Of course it is all right to have an opinion, that's a good thing. Of course you need to be biased, that is only human.
But all of this is only helpful if perpetuated towards what already is established, of where we are now. And it remains to be asked: How are we waltzing into the future? A lot of questions are unanswered, also by a charismatic person like Obama, who just got to be the president-elect of the USA.
As much as I like him, I am realistic about one thing. CHANGE (his motto) does not come with a lottery ticket or a mandate from above. There is more to it. My hope for change, is that he stays independent and doesn't bow his ass to the ones lurking around the corridor of power.
I am not sure I completely agree with PLATO in present times (as is depicted on the statement posted image) but I do share a lot of sympathy for that sentiment.
In the end (the bottom line) it is the small efforts of you and I, those things will make all the difference.
Just go out there, do the best you can and then enjoy the brilliance of small steps forward.

not done quite yet

The chill is on. A mile away from my homestead they create artificial snow for the slopes. Temperature is hovering around -10Celsius/5Fahrenheit. Some like this stuff - I don't anymore. I'd rather be in a hammock with Aggie, kissing sun rays and spilling drinks because the damn thing keeps moving back and forth. Who cares, we can clean up later.
So today I am doing this "personal" kind of post, let you in into my secret closet, there is no Time magazine, USA-today newspaper, Le Monde or any other kind of scary written stuff to be found. It is just me with a chewed up teddy bear, resting peacefully where the spiders like to dance.
Oh shit, I almost forgot what I meant to say, what I am actually talking about.
Some of you know my struggles, it is that education thing. Sometimes I am brilliant, and sometimes lousy. Depends what's on the menu.
To enlarge the possibilities, I decided to get certified as a teacher in New York State. It will take some random stupid facts of learning, funneled into my brain by bureaucrats and I will have to spit these tidbits back to them, to get the points I need to score. But so be it. I am willing to transfer from being a free agent in the private educational system, to an approved person who can walk the high-wire of public stardom.
Wish me luck.
P.S. I am working on that "fall" song. Need to figure out the details of sending audio files back and forth so they stay 'multitrack'. Some of the contributed lyrics will be incorporated ... deffinitely!!!!

I just have to do this

I understand that 86% of my blog visitors are females, and I know that they also don't like to hear all the time this "worldly-political-stuff". You know, the things that an other gangsta was hiding in this closet, financial breakdowns around the curb, filthy rich CEO's getting mullah to retire wherever they want to, and so on.... We, the club here, mostly stick to poetry and music. But sometimes music will not tell the tune.
So I can't help it. There are so many bizarre things happening around the globe. It is tough to keep up with them and with that overload of information in order not to become estranged, detached and insane.
This thing freaks me out a bit though ladies, and I will do this free hand since I lost my "cut and paste" stuff altogether.
So there are these pirates on the east coast of Africa, they capture any kind of vessel, even super-large oil-tankers and keep them for substantial ransom; and they get away with it. I can't believe this is actually happening.
All right, so the Pirates are coming in with speed-boats, well armed and such. Their aim is to mount the boat and get control. But with all the gadgets (gps, sound blasting canons, security wire around the premises and so on, why is this still an
issue? Now on top of it, Islamic extremists are searching for the hijackers in the Somali port of Haradheere because they believe that this Saudi registered ship is not to be captured, a sin against Allah. An Arab boat is not to be touched.
What the heck is this. Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish etc. etc. boats?
A boat is a boat.
The other thing that bothers me, and then I will shut up, is the consistent misery found in Africa in general. I don't even want to go there where (again Muslim extremists) slaughter innocent people, but rather to the last cholera outbreak, the famine, the droughts, the incompetence of any - yes ANY - kind of political system to make any difference for the common people in that continent.
AFRICA is the lost ground, it all could be different - but it ain't.

Change

what are you going to say now, Aussie friend?

OK, so I am sort of halfway unemployed, an artists choice I guess. I could work for WallMart part time, Home Depot or Radioshack (if I shave first and then put a tie on) or the local grocery store if I handle to stack shelves with fried bean cans. I don't imagine my future to be this way.
OK, so here is my final proposition. I will open a Chinese restaurant, right here in downtown Hillsdale. I like to cook and I like Chinese people. What a combination!
All I need now is start capital. Would you please donate through the PayPal link below? You thereby could become a shareholder for my venture. It is indeed a viable thing to invest in local initiatives. You knew that, but I just would like to remind you of it.

So the Banking Situation is not fixed in the US, the DOW has dropped to 7500 something, Oil is below $50 a barrel, naughty executives fly from Detroit in three separate private jets to bargain with congress for a 25$ billion bail out?
Let's scrap the private jets - then talk!
Even Red Neck folks have no mercy anymore, and they should know...
Go to CNN and read the last articles.
Am I upset? Fuck no - I am devastated, and so will you be in the end.
Time to change gears. Time to invest locally. And I am not even going to be mad if you don't invest in my Chinese restaurant called "Golden Dragon"... Just be mindful to put effort into your own local community!!!

dog talk

Check this dog out her name is Gin. Never have I seen anything like it!

by the way, if you get sick and tired of that song, just click the pause button on the embedded player below! Will take it down eventually...

the eat out

They eat out
by Margaret Atwood

In restaurants we argue over which of us will pay for your funeral
though the real question is whether or not I will make you immortal.

At the moment only I can do it
and so I raise the magic fork over the plate of beef fried rice and plunge it into your heart.

There is a faint pop, a sizzle
and through your own split head you rise up glowing;

the ceiling opens a voice sings Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing
you hang suspended above the city in blue tights and a red cape, your eyes flashing in unison.

The other diners regard you some with awe, some only with boredom:
they cannot decide if you are a new weapon or only a new advertisement.

As for me, I continue eating; I liked you better they way you were,
but you were always ambitious.
"They eat out" by Margaret Atwood, from Selected Poems 1965-1975. © Houghton Mifflin

naked tree "competition" for lyrics

As we approach yet an other week of labor and sweat, nature is whispering: Calm down!
Listen to the cranky voice of Tom Waits for a few minutes and it will make you kick your audio system into shambles and make flying little pieces flaring around in mid air in no time. Nothing against Tom per say. He got some good blues tunes worth listening to. But he is sooooo Monday; or was that so mundane? Without his back up band he would barely compete with a rooster having pneumonia. But hey, he's got some fine lyrics. Maybe that's what counts these days, and that's where you come in...
This is not a Haiku competition even though there is a Haiku on that photograph from my evening walk. This is a competition about you doing the lyrics - you write them, and I and my friends will come up with the sound. So, go ahead and be creative. A personalized mp3 version will be awaiting if you happen to be the "winner" of the lyric crafts contest!
Have an excellent Monday and a fair sailing in the week ahead!
Sharpen your pen and write something that makes a tune roll...
The final blockbuster hit will be published here - and everywhere else of course, let's make history!
Oh, I forgot to mention, the theme is: FALL !

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the music you hear was a totally spontaneous session between brother Pete (cello) and me on guitar, voice and violin on July 4th... There you go, you're up for trouble. Win this contest and become immortal. We will be doing a much better job than we did with these Dylan lines you listening to right now, maybe your own song therefore will sparkle and stand out like a gem ....

Hairy business ahead

I am still pondering what kind of "change" the new elections in the US will bring for real.
The Democrats are now talking about a bail-out of the "big three", GM, Chrysler and Ford - in essence rewarding them for their misdemeanors and mismanagement in the past and thereby giving them a green light to continue business as usual. I see no "change" in that.
In utter despair the government throws money here and there, not only for bank and other acquisitions, but now also as droplets to homeowners. Where does that money come from, where is the printing press to keep up with such a demand?
As much as I like Obama and his charismatic personality, I stay a skeptic of the course ahead. There is too much hairy business to wade through, entrenched in sieves above the drain.
Now that the USA per say has become a socialist country, I wonder when the knuckleheads in Washington realize that the present "free market system" has failed. But no, they are hanging onto it as if their lives would be saved on a magic raft, while their actions only prolong the inevitable course of drowning. Maybe that is a human instinct: Let's stay on the course we choose, no matter what happens.
But there is a way to avoid the iceberg and savor this moment of present uncertainty and turn it around to our advantage. People who are looking for "self regulated", decentralized, community orientated businesses, are definitely on the right track.
I happened to be in Detroit when Bush gave his speech To the Union. I also cruised around then, and all I saw was desolation and decay. The image was as vivid as a city seen after a war. The palaces of the "big three" were still there, but they turned into shopping malls on the ground level, cheap jewelery from China, leather belts from Mexico and twirling stands of postcards depicting times long gone. I thought right then, that I was participating involuntary in a SiFi movie.
The answer is not to bail out these aging giants so that their ruthless course will continue. Detroit will not benefit from it either. The unfortunate side effect is, that there will be colossal collateral damage, thousands of people jobless.
But so be it. Maybe we could focus on a brand new economy, one that serves the people of each country and not the top 2% of jerks running the show.

head's up

the task of race

Now that the big wave of orgasmic election days are done, ripples of water trickle into the ground, the leftovers of that ejaculation.
I am cautiously optimistic and that does not make me a "true blind believer". But you see, this nomination has great merit. Two hundred years ago, the United States raised its wealth and existence on the bleeding backs of imported slaves from Africa and they called them niggers. Now such a man of color is president-elect of same country. A marvelous transformation indeed. Only in America such a transformation is shown to be possible in such a short span of time, historically speaking. (could you for example envision a woman or man of color as president or leader in Sweden? See, you can't - the question therefore is, why not!)
So the present road ahead is not without obstacles. Obama will face challenges unprecedented compared to any other US leader before him: The "western-capitalism-model" is in shambles, there are multiple wars still dominated by US-forces, nature takes its toll each day and little is done to reverse that trend.
It will be tough to reverse some, if not all of these issues within four years of presidency.
Now that said, I have confidence that Obama will try his best. He has a good heart after all, one that seems to be uniquely human, a heart that reaches out to all people!

(photo, Vinalhaven, Maine)

the song: This is your victory!

I had a night, that was not blessed with lot's of sleep
but I guess the sheep
whispered
I took no time to count them,
others did.

The miracle is not in the making anymore
the janitor has already cleaned the floor
Obama must now carry the sun
undo what others have begun

The hope is high, the hope is slow
what will turn out, you only know
the leaves will fall this autumn day
and that's as much I dare to say.

Hallelujah

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the Lord
but you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth the fitht
the minor fall, the major lift
the battled king composing Hallelujah.

Your faith was strong, but you needed proof
you saw her bathing on the roof
her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
she broke your throne, and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah...

(LEONARD COHEN, and five more verses after these two)


I had the luxury today to recline outside on a stretcher, nah - you don't call it that, some kind of mobile steel tubed sofa for 45 minutes. What the heck, you get what I mean. So I gazed up into the sky and followed the tracks of hypersonic-fat-ass-military planes scratching artificial clouds into the sky. To some extend it was pretty how the patterns evolved - and then dissolved again. There is something poetic about momentary existence, be it in clouds, or the pulse of the heart of a reclining person staring at the sky.
Sometimes life can be so simple, even hours before a groundbreaking general election.