The final September Song- Poems for hunger series

(Artwork by Marcin Bondarowicz)

I think today is the end of all things conventional,
Whatever had been predictable yesterday, is no more.

Forks and spoons are too rusted to use,
Jutting out of us like some perished nightmare.
Dining room tables are being used for makeshift mausoleums,
(Leave the dead, don’t waste precious energy.)
Electricity went out this morning, water this afternoon.

It reaches everywhere; the world reeks of a decomposing.
There’s a deafening silence ticking down like a giant clock;
Nothing can be heard, save the monstrous, shrieking echo of silence
That swims over our heads like crop-dusters spitting flesh.

We are so goddamn frightened! Is this the end of the world?
Has our greed and apathy finally made its way back to us?
Have our closed hands and open mouths at last climbed inside our minds?
Where are all the loud children skipping home from school?
What day is this? What time is it? What has happened?

At night there will be fireflies and the moon to feebly reassure us.
Everything we’ve ever been told about death and hunger and this moment
Sounds stupid.
All the times we’ve been told of it or witnessed such present horror
Is now speechless.
Everything is so horrifyingly quiet! The mask of life itself is waning
Like leaves falling upon autumn’s sword.

To our hands, the children. To our feast, the world
Now shaking off its parasites with winter’s cold harmony.
Of our hands, the stillness. Of our hunger, the stench
Masking any good that has ever been grown in the field
Or expressed with the sustenance of any true and decent love.

© 2009 mrp/thepoetryman

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I Am The Voice

......of one crying in the wilderness.
~John 1:23a

I can truly empathize with John the Baptist. I too, feel like the lone voice trying to bear witness to the truth.

I read scores of articles and news reports daily. When they are concerning Iran, there is one common thread: Macho Hubris. There are virtually no rational voices in the United States. With the latest news of Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities, all I've heard, non-stop, is sabre-rattling, chest pounding, and the renewed beating of the war drums.

President Obama has now threatened Iran with military force. It was not an overt threat, by any means, but a threat nonetheless. He said, in effect, his 'preferred way was diplomacy, but military force would not be taken 'off the table'. It is up to Iran to make the next move. They will either comply with what we want or .........................' .

This is an almost verbatim recitation of what Geo W Bush said to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Basically, what he is asking them to do, is the same thing Bush demanded from Iraq: Prove a negative. And just as with Iraq, nothing Iran says, or does, will convince him otherwise.

He makes grandiose claims of 'intelligence gathering' from the U.S., Britain, and France. Remember, these are the same intelligence sources that swore on a stack of Bibles that Saddam had WMDs and imminent plans and capabilities for using them against us. We all know how that turned out.

The Congress has been complaining for months that we can't afford $900 billion for Health Care Reform in this country. Watch how fast they will be ready to cough up $1 trillion or more to attack Iran. We haven't even clawed our way out of the Iraq/Afghanistan hole we've dug for ourselves.

We're hearing the chicken-hawks heralding the good news that Russia and China will be with us. Don't believe it.

We have deceived ourselves into believing that we, and our 'allies', have the only intelligence gathering capabilities on the planet. We've heard how Russia was 'surprised' and 'upset' with this latest disclosure on Iran. Don't believe that either. Both Russia and China have very good intelligence gathering abilities. They are fully aware of what Iran is doing. In fact, they probably know more about Iran than we do. China has remained curiously silent on this. What does THAT tell you?

America has a knee-jerk personality with a need for instant gratification. We seem to be oblivious to the fact that Iranians and Russians are Masters at the game of chess. They have patience and think many moves in advance, something our checker-playing mentality can't seem to comprehend.

I don't know if Iran has nuclear weapons ambitions or not; but I do know this: They'd be damn fools if they didn't. Their biggest enemy, and threat, is Zionist Israel, which HAS nuclear weapons. They are surrounded by nuclear-armed States. India; Pakistan; U.S. (Iraq/Afghanistan); Israel; Russia; and China. How would you like to be the only one in your neighborhood without a gun?

Rather than bullying and coercion, we would do better at realizing WHY Iran would want nuclear weapons, and solving the problem from that perspective. Double-standards simply do not work. Put yourselves in the Iranian's sandals. THEY signed the NPT, while Israel; Pakistan; and India refused, and continue to refuse, signing on. Yet the U.S. not only allowed THEM to arm, but actually helped them (one of many Articles of the NPT we have breached). The irony is, Iran received much of it's uranium enrichment knowledge from Pakistan. Had we stopped Pakistan in it's tracks, it would have set Iran back decades. Had we stopped Israel, in all probability, Iran would not be so hell-bent on arming themselves.

Nuclear weapons are deterrent weapons. Notice how we no longer sabre-rattle and threaten North Korea. THAT is the sole reason America is against Iran being nuclear armed; we could no longer threaten and bully them. Iranians are human beings, just like all the rest of us. The Iranians are a highly intelligent people. They will not commit suicide and have their people and country laid to waste by using a pre-emptive nuclear strike on another. Iran has not attacked, nor invaded, any country in modern history; and it would be my guess, that they would not do so in the future.

My advice to America: Stop with all the arrogant hubris and bravado. Live and let live.

My advice to Iran: Be careful. You're dealing with some greedy folks who are only interested in your natural resources.

~~Cross-posted at the Blog of Revelation ~~

Give Peace a Chance,
Brother Tim