form

Dragon, Tiger, Snake
man's form they forsake -
that brand new tattoo

winter approaches

winter is near --
I call my jacket
by its name

Redemption: on a long enough timeline ...

Oldwood's picture

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Oldwood NoDebt . Oct 2, 2017 9:48 PM

We all live in relative peace until it is perceived we are a challenge or threat. The very nature of power is in response to perceived threat. I do not understand why people refuse to accept that life is WAR on one level or another. That is not to say we must be hostile or violent, just that we can't be surprised that we are contested at virtually everything. People looking for safety are simply in denial.

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new BingoBoggins Oldwood . Oct 2, 2017 11:03 PM

Reminded me of what my father once said to me when I was a still a boy. "Never knock a man down so far he can't get up without resenting it".

Paraphrasing. Yeah. Figuratively, as in a good chewing out, a reality check, what have you. In other words, don't crush his dignity. "Resentment" is my own interpretation. Sad I should think in those terms. Someone pointed that out to me - it wasn't that long ago.

I suppose that's a building block of character, whether or not you're a knucklehead that needs straightening out, or some returned to the fold, Squad 10, dry drunk, River City Alano lyin' to beat the band sum bitch on a Friday night? Shouldn't there be restraint, even if he is lying? Or even still, a semblance of dignity? What's the alternative then?

That was the real question - though he never quite put it into words that way. No explanation. He just asked if I knew. I s'pose I nodded my head ...

As far as I recall, he made no mention of any person's redeemable qualities, either. Deliberately. "Just don't do it". Like some ultimatum, or a promise, or, could it have been ... one's own redemption he alluded to, perhaps?

Now, if it were a street fight ... No. It isn't. It's affording someone the ability to get up again, count their bruises, shake off those jitters, undisturbed, cognizant - and go out and try again.


solemn now,
my vow to the scarecrow
to change the world



;;;;

Reconciliation

trying to reconcile my image of a semi-retired slouch
with my OCD has been no Spring picnic










more people seem fixated on a speckled fawn
than concerned with a flight of geese










poets anthropomorphize plants and rocks and things
while I struggle with inanimate objects










my MMPI reveals a predilection for occasional chairs that swivel










more than once I've been called upon to ask myself,
"What would a Monkey do?"









I never understood what they meant by "fat ladies in glasses"
until I'd been under surveillance by the Secret Service











they talk of War and all the while I've fought myself
and I'm one tough son-of-a-bitch

Dog's Breakfast

in a plastic cage
high up on a balcony
the neighbor's cock crows
watching me below
as I talk with the dog


. . . . . Everybody Rock Steady!!


.