"Western Black Rhino Declared Extinct" 11/06/2013

Poem for the Black Rhino

I'm a little funny looking
I must confess,
all chunky boxy & truck-like
and with 2 big old horns
that look quite deadly
but really we just
use them for show mostly
oh and digging around
in termite hills,

I do hear though
that you humans
really cherish them
for folk cures and
help with your
dicks and such,
you know
very important
scientific things,

but then again
we can make a fearsome
fearsome charge
at a land-rover
full of folks
all with their
cameras & stuff,
at least we used to
till we became
fucking
extinct!!!

  Mother and Child


  A gypsy woman
  of a rare
  and ferocious
  beauty,
  is seated
  on the pavement,

  a child
  lies upon
  her lap,
  and arranged
  before her
  on a faded blue cloth,
  are coloured liquids
  in glass bottles,

  she rolls one
  up & down
  the blind boys
  naked body,
  and the child
  laughs
  delightedly,

  she opens
  the glass stopper
  and the presents the liquid
  for the boy
  to smell,

  then she waves
  it slowly
  round and around
  his head,

  both smile joyously
  as he follows
  and takes in
  the perfumed
  scent,

  as they sit together
  beneath the hot sun
  by the crowded street
  in Mysore
  Southern India.
   
  


 

 


 

                                           When I get to Bombay ….

  I will bathe my eyes in the warm bright light …
  stand under a cold cold shower
  and feel new,
  then squat over a dark hole
  and wash myself with my hand
  and cool water
  and be clean.

  I will drink chai in a dark street-side tea-shop
  perhaps with a biscuit or samosa
  as the fan turns and I gaze gently
  upon the portraits
  of the gods
  and goddesses.

  I will accept the gaze of strangers
  as why ever not
  as who am I?
  I will return the smile of beggars
  as why not
  no harm
  is done.

  I will take off my sandals and enter the temple
  and wander silently and try
  not to think too much
  as I spend some time
  in the presence
  of the Lord.
    
 I will have a 15 cent rice plate
 perhaps with fish
 though just one piece
 is all you get,
 perhaps
 with mutton,
 depending.

 I will visit a tailor and
 for just a few dollars,
 will be fitted out
 for a light shirt
 and pyjama trousers,
 then retuning to my hotel
 will give all my western clothes
 to the boy who looks after
 the laundry,
 to do with
 as he wishes.

 I will be up at dawn
 as the crows caw
 the vultures fall
 and the monkeys
 scatter,
 and soon the
 shiny bright children
 will wander by
 chattering
 as they go to school.

 I will find the Govt store,
 often just a hole
 in the wall
 with bars,
 where I'll get
 some ganja
 some hash
 and a little opium
 unless they're
 out of stock
 that day.  
 
 I will drink from a green coconut
 that's just been opened
 for me as we stand
 together next his cart
 by a youngster
 with a machete.
   
 I will find sweetmeats
 with dripping honey
 and almond slices
 and thick thick syrup
 and coconut
 and have more
 chai and relax
 and await
 the night.

 I will see fruit-bats
 and rats
 and huge lumbering
 white cows
 and hawks
 and even perhaps
 a dancing bear
 if he's made it
 down from
 the hills.

 I will shower once more
 feel cool and refreshed
 light incense
 in a packet so colored
 and gaudy,
 and smoke,
 listen,
 and wait.

 I will immerse myself,
 I will dare,
 I will enter
 the still moving
 throngs,
 shouting and calling
 and never
 tiring,
 always
 to-ing and fro-ing.

 I will wander back
 amongst the draped
 and sleeping figures,
 mindful
 hopefully,
 and
 I will smile.










 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

From a poem started oh, twenty years ago ... from memories
of years even before that.
Bombay is called Mumbai now. 
     

     

      
     Me and Mum in Mexico after far too much tequila ...

     Anyway folks, here's three poems from a long time ago ...

                  * * * * * * * * * * *


  'On Reading A Poem by William Carlos Williams'

    It is titled 'The Painting'
    and begins with a line
    containing the word
    'black'
    which made me think
    of charcoal

    which led to the drawings
    composed by students
    when I used to model
    at an art school

    and then the poem
    goes on to speak
    of 'a delicate lock
    of blond hair'
 
    and I picture
    the fair-haired girl
    who I never spoke to
    but whose shy smile
    open and inviting
    haunts me now,
  
    and I wonder
    how it might have been,
    our friendship

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

   'Pregnant Lady in the Laundromat'

   Draped inside a diaphonous
   and billowing
   angel-white sari,
   its red border
   trailing over your delicate
   sandelled feet.

   Eyes downcast
   or gazing everywhere
   but where
   others are.

   Intently passing time
   by reading 'Rental Homes'
   then placing it in front of
   your blooming belly
   as a barrier,
   hiding from view
   the growing little one
   inside you.

   I guess it is
   so very personal
   isn't it.

   You were so aware of yourself,
   shy and a little afraid,
   like a nervous animal
   at a water-hole.

   * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

   'Bourbon'
 
   I am discovering that it is the hardest thing
   to stop myself going downstairs
   to the liquor store
   for a bottle
   of Bourbon,

   it seems to call and my whole body
   seems to be craving
   some release,
   and my mind
   and my eyes
   hurt real bad.   

   * * * * * * * * * * * *
   Stillman Street, San Francisco, very early nineties.

   
 
  
  

   

   
 
   
    
      



 
    

           
  A Night Out for a Chat or Thrown for a Loop by God's Intervention or Martin makes a
               mistake, and not for the first time.

   Well now, let me tell you a story about last night. I thought I'd go to one of those support-group & help set-ups, you know for general problems in life for various reasons events, but don't worry friends I'm doing very well now actually. It had first been suggested years ago but I'd always either just shrugged it off or seriously said no. This evening I thought, sure why not? Lets just bite the bullet, stroll on down, sit in with some other folks, chat, tell stories, offer support, maybe laugh at our human failings, smile at our small triumphs, something like that.
 
    So it takes me awhile to walk there, but I make it. Its in a room in a church, that's fine I figure, they have the space, they offer comfort and help, no pressure, that's fine. So I'm a bit hot and flustered by the time I get there, the evening is warm and I've walked awhile. I hesitate, then open the door.

  There's two guys sitting on a couch, they have a calm and contained look, papers in hand, glasses waving. Everyone else seems a little dazed & nervous, uncomfortable for the most part. As am I of course, but I grab a chair and take a seat in the circle.

  A paper is being passed around and read by each in turn, its in a plastic holder so I can see its being used a lot and this must be a regular event. There is mention of God amongst the self-criticism and humility, later I look up the 12 Step manifesto and its a variation on that theme.

  I wait till the paper is passed again and interrupt.
   "Is this a Christian thing?" I ask, directing my question to one of the guys on the
 couch.
  "This is about human beings, not God." I say, 'It's nothing to do with God."
  "You are welcome to stay,' he says, "And no it is not. There is some literature
here," he says, gesturing to the table just in front of him I glance but honestly can't
read any titles as I'm so flustered. I think I see a Bible there but I could be mistaken.
The reading continues with the guy next to me, more talk of God. He passes it to me with a very nice smile and tells me I can pass if I like. I say hello to everybody, 'How you'all doin'"I say, but there is silence.  I read the statement number 11 to myself and see a whole bunch of religious phrasing, can't remember exactly what it says. I laugh out loud as I tell them I have to pass. The paper continues through one more guy, and then the next begins.

  Now I'm going to have to paraphrase here, as I can't exactly recall the sentences, but basically its "I acknowledge that only a power greater than myself can help me through this." At this my patience is gone.
   "Oh this is fucked I say. Its got nothing to do with god, its us, its us here as human beings." I get up. "I'm sorry, this is fucked, I don't know what the fuck you are all doing here.' And I'm gone, taking the wrong turn as I leave the room, and getting lost in my emotional fog.
 
 I head home, and actually I feel real good. What the heck1 I think, I hadn't expected that. How does God come into this? It's not that I'm an atheist, in fact I often picture myself as some sort of radical be-robed shoeless Jesus casting the money-lenders, cursing the rich, shaming the evil-hearted, but still,  can't see what God has to do with this. Its human, its human at its core. So I ponder starting an existential-humanist support group so as we can talk about life and ourselves, about how hard it can be, about our failings our achievements, our sorrows and our happiness, and the answer put forward will be of human source, god cannot help us with anything, its up to us, we will be free when we make ourselves free, and I small broadly as I stroll down the road. I see people glancing over from their cars.
 
I realize too of course that they may be talking about this stranger this evening, or of course they may not give a damn, but perhaps they are saying that this is only evidence of my need for the lord's hand, of my resistance to change, of my troubled psyche, or again I may have just stirred things up a little, but I doubt it. Its similar perhaps to other religious cult set-ups, like the Hare Krisha's, with their ex-addicts and their flipped out acid freaks, needing the structure, the certainty, the meaning to life. I almost joined up myself once, but that's another story.

  Only man can make man free, or something similar ... yes indeed.
 
             

Life, ethics and value ...

Am I wrong? Am I weary?
Are my ethics
born of fury?
for I would gladly
trade them all
the commentators,
rifle guys
& manufacturers,

for a hundred lemurs,
a score of tigers,
hammerhead sharks,
even slender trees
just for their barks,

Am I here
beyond the pale?
to suggest each
and everyone
be replaced
by whales?

For I know that we are taught
that man's kingdom
rules over
all,

that each and very
human being
has value equal
one to the other,

but in these times
I do wonder,
as children die
& species leave us,

if those responsible
are
less
than
weevils,

    A proposed Bolshevik solution, a little revised, to the present state of emergency here in the US of A. Perhaps part 2 of 'Despairing and Childlike Political Fantasies' or maybe, just maybe a potentiality, should we so choose.

   In light of the US Senate's craven non-decision on gun control it has been decided after an emergency meeting of the Central Committee that the following measures be immediately
introduced. These measures are not open for discussion or appeal, those charming and seductive illusions of democracy, free-speech and the right to argue, are hereby abolished in the matters of national importance. The primary purpose of our government is to protect the well-being of all our citizens, both young and old, and especially the more vulnerable young. The issue of so-called personal rights is an illusory and moreover dangerous ideology, and the argument regarding a so-called People's Militia is rendered null and void by out decision to revoke the Constitution in it's totality, later in the day when peace returns to the land the debate will return to said document.

1. All leading members of the NRA are hereby ordered to report to the offices of their State People's Commissar, from there they will be transported to the Penitentiary. In our hands at an undisclosed location is Wayne Lapierre, he has been placed incommunicado, all officers of the said NRA are warned that failure to report by the end of the day will result in the mobilization of the People's Militia. We will find you, and be aware that any resistance will be met with appropriate and unforgiving force. We will be patient no longer, the time for talk is gone. The continuing power of the NRA, the gun lobby and associated financial interests has led us to this position. As years go by the chatter goes on, the discussion, the so-called weighing of the options, respecting the others viewpoint have all proved to be mere stalling tactics by an immoral and dangerous combination of personal 'rights' issues, ignorant group psychology and monied interests. The failure yesterday, 4/18, of the quite modest gun bill has revealed to us all ... naked and unashamed ... the inability of the present democracy to function. Senators have been bought, threatened, and cowed. The American people have been fooled, in their own ignorance to be sure, but lies and fear-mongering have influenced their thoughts on this matter. Yet still the will of the people has been usurped on several of these points. We can wait no longer, we will act. Incarceration will be indefinite, with a release date dependent on behaviour. All guests of the People's State will be given guided tours if crime sites, funerals, the empty bedrooms of brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. You will be made to SEE! 

2. All Senators who voted down this bill, our patience is up, you to are hereby ordered to report to the local offices of your State People's Commissar,you have 24 hours, we advise you strongly not to be late.

3. Gun manufacturers have 7 days to produce working plans for the conversion of their plants to items of constructive and peaceful use. 8 days will see an expropriation of all said properties, imprisonment and forcible transfer of all assets to the state.

4. All broadcasters, so-called journalists and talking heads who continue to propagate ill-formed, scare-mongering and hateful 'news-stories' and opinions. You are warned, our patience is up. As has been stated at the head of this bulletin, the primary purpose of the incoming Peoples's Government is the protection of its citizens, on that we will no compromise, we have had enough. State controllers will be listening and we can come for you in a matter of minutes, we advise you to be careful in your choice of language.
 
   We reiterate that all actions hereby undertaken are in the name of the people, for the people and by the people. No compromise is to be given on this issue, we are done with the corruption, the smoke and mirrors, and moreover the sorrow. It must end and we are acting now.

 By Decree of The Military Revolutionary of the Bolshevik Party of these United States.