a prehistorical perspective

"The past and the future
-- far from being a matter of concern --
were wholly implicit in the present;
and the odd facts enumerated above
-- the divinity of animals and kings,
the pyramids, mummification --
as well as several other and seemingly unrelated
features of Egyptian civilization --
its moral maxims,
the forms peculiar to its poetry and prose --
can all be understood as a result of a basic conviction
that only the changeless is truly significant.
[footnote: See my Ancient Egyptian Religion, New York, 1948,
and Kingship and the Gods, Chicago, 1948.]"
from
Henri Frankfort, The Birth of Civilization in the Near East

an early civilization focused on the changeless
why don't we want to keep the eternal going?
why does divinity of animals seem strange to us?
why do we believe in our tech continually
changing the beJesus out of reality?
can the same technomania that is killing us
create solutions for the problems
our techno-cocooning has created?
we are screened off
we are screened out
we are screened in
we are monitored and managed
pharmaceuticalized locked in locked up
didn't dare to impeach
our sickest sick PUP
Perpetual Unilateral Preemptive wars
few now care to interrupt
half of each tax dollar
feeds the war machine
another chunk interest on war debts
may the tea party become a peace parade
led by our war vets

bless snakes spiders bats

World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor - it requires only that they live together with mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

should have grabbed the quote from the hip mahatma
about starting with the children if you want peace
the international criminal court just getting started
no GOOD (Global Organization Of Democracies) to go to
the UN has never tried to stop a genocide in progress
a common GOOD aspiration is never in the headlines

still jfk has a point about mutual tolerance
that only needs expanding to the speciation
don't have to love spiders, snakes & bats as i do
just realize that they keep us alive
100k species of spiders, 932 species of bats
blessing snakes unawares still our best bet

connecting

"There are so many things that make me want
to withdraw, to go back to myself.

But my practice helps me remain in society,

because I am aware that if I leave society,
I will not be able to help change it.
I hope that those who are practicing Buddhism
succeed in keeping their feet on earth,
staying in society. That is our hope
for peace."

Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace pg. 50

Listen to the story told by the reed,
of being separated.
'Since I was cut from the reedbed,
I have made this crying sound.'

The Essential Rumi, pg. 17

real compared to what?

less and less a part of the new yorker world
intellectuals assemble to talk with each other
personalities caricaturing & conversing
peace, ecological balance, children's joy
7th generation not the main agenda

"the president has got his war
folks don't know just what it's for"
multiple inconvenient truths
wash up unseen on a foreign shore
we mind the stinking store

Constitution day and no parade

booth led boldly with his big badass bass drum
are you washed in the blood of gettysburg
warfare state has trashed our Constitution
floundering fathers tried to spare us this pain

9th amendment key to sustainable future
key to having a US conscience to keep clean
time to parade for a war free world
once & for all we must remove this stain

every day a play day

let's make post-labor-days play days
we've had our day of labor
honest labor is good but who can find it
for too many work has lost its savor

humo ludens collaboratus is us
takes a playful mind to crawl for congress
peace is next when we play all day
no time to listen to war mongers