(untitled)
I am a human being.
I am a human being,
and I really, really love trees.
I see each one as a sculpture of nature,
capturing space,
and I get high on the abstract balance.
The tree I love most is the Sycamore,
the sexiest tree on the planet.
Whenever I see one....
Whenever I see one,
I exhalt in it like I would witnessing
an amazing animal,
or a woman of pulchritude.
I am a human being.
I am a human being.
Today I thought I was going to begin work on the Othello/R&J translation, but a political phone call as I enjoyed my espresso, down on the steps at Miramar this morning, threw me off, and I decided to go on a photo safari instead. I have this thing for trees, especially sycamores. It was a good safari, got some good shots.
It's so perplexing that the solution to all our problems is attainable, and those who could really make a difference, somehow, for some reason, balk or shy away from it. We'll see what unfolds this next Saturday. I have to admit, just as poetry and literature has transformed in every respect over the past several decades, that what I thought I was going to do with this life, may be a thing of the past. A life caught between the wheels of change, or a life left at a shore where the ship sails on.... It's happened before, in so many ways--things are left behind. I do have a lot of poems I should publish. First the Othello/R&J translation.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Note On An Unseasonably Cool Day
Now that the Hamlet/Macbeth book is done, I wanted to get back to a new novel. Working on it the past couple days, but just realized today, smarter to translate Othello and Romeo and Juliet first. Then the new novel.
I wonder if I can write a novel and plays at the same time. I think it's possible.
The political science project may be at an end. It’s unbelievable that OathKeepers, the group which gets military/police officers to affirm their oath to protect/defend the Constitution--that they can’t see the irony in them saying a convention is dangerous. A person professing to want the Constitution obeyed, and somehow a constitutionally mandated convention is dangerous? How does that happen in someone's brain?
Some guy who ran a populist website five/six years ago published some political pieces I wrote. Then a couple weekends ago I was asked to speak to a Tea Party group in Orange County, and that same guy from years before was there. He runs the Tenth Amendment Center now. He’s leading a group that call themselves Tenthers. They want the states to nullify federal laws (which got me thinking, what if you could find a state to nullify federal cannabis laws? Any state that did would become wealthy--a cannabis industry suddenly emerging would be a good strike against the corporate status quo, maybe a fatal one). Of course you know what I think--we need a federal convention.
Anyway, the guy from the past is holding a big political gathering in downtown LA. How did he have money back then? How does he have money now? The Tenthers and OathKeepers will be there. I'm going to have fun seeing what the response is while getting signatures for the initiative.
I wonder if I can write a novel and plays at the same time. I think it's possible.
The political science project may be at an end. It’s unbelievable that OathKeepers, the group which gets military/police officers to affirm their oath to protect/defend the Constitution--that they can’t see the irony in them saying a convention is dangerous. A person professing to want the Constitution obeyed, and somehow a constitutionally mandated convention is dangerous? How does that happen in someone's brain?
Some guy who ran a populist website five/six years ago published some political pieces I wrote. Then a couple weekends ago I was asked to speak to a Tea Party group in Orange County, and that same guy from years before was there. He runs the Tenth Amendment Center now. He’s leading a group that call themselves Tenthers. They want the states to nullify federal laws (which got me thinking, what if you could find a state to nullify federal cannabis laws? Any state that did would become wealthy--a cannabis industry suddenly emerging would be a good strike against the corporate status quo, maybe a fatal one). Of course you know what I think--we need a federal convention.
Anyway, the guy from the past is holding a big political gathering in downtown LA. How did he have money back then? How does he have money now? The Tenthers and OathKeepers will be there. I'm going to have fun seeing what the response is while getting signatures for the initiative.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Late Note
Today I woke up in a motel and drove to a ranch in Menifee, California. It’s out there, inland Orange County. Some Tea Party folks had gotten together to hear speakers and discuss late news. I was invited to speak because I had become known as an advocate for the Article V Convention.
There was a Harvard graduate/New York Times best-selling political author as main draw, then a couple conservatives with various speaking rights--meaning they had published a book, or were active in some way in conservative political spheres.
One of the speakers was there to talk about how a convention is dangerous and how we should do all we could to make sure one never happens. He gave a really good speech in that he had the crowd vocally agreeing with him, big applause at the end. I spoke and was told afterward by various folks I had been persuasive and that they wanted links to more information. One guy told me I had changed his mind about whether or not a federal convention were dangerous, he said he realized it’s exactly what runaway government doesn’t want.
Driving back to Santa Barbara, I was struck by the question and had to remind myself how I got here. When I was in my twenties, the stereo-typical surfer, drinking beer, smoking cannabis, and chasing tail, I had no idea what I was going to do, I just had a strong desire to do something good. So I went on as a poet, writing and reading far and wide. Then 9/11 hit, and knowing what I did, I knew the event would create a vacuum of power and the bad guys were going to start dismantling human rights and protections in various ways. I knew of the convention clause, knew what it would do if it ever happened, and dedicated my life to doing what I could to make it happen. This September will have been ten years of various legal actions, writing, attending conferences, and talking with folks on the street. Of all those years, it’s only within the last year that blogposts are starting to go up across the internet about it.
People who say they’re not political or they don’t get involved in politics aren’t really as bright as they think they are. In blunt terms, every breath anyone takes is political. Why? Because every thought is political, and if you aren’t breathing, you aren’t thinking. Every action is either for common good or against. Why? Because everything is connected. And people who say they have their issue which they focus on, which addresses a symptom? Do you want hobby-horse politics, or do you want real politics?
Are we going to get out of this mess? Are we going to derail the corporatization of the planet? I don’t know. I do understand well enough how the idea of a convention, or asking someone to think of it, is tantamount to asking them to bite the hand that feeds. I understand all that well, but there’s something about thought and action that makes a mark on how things unfold. Ever going south and inland, use the 71.
There was a Harvard graduate/New York Times best-selling political author as main draw, then a couple conservatives with various speaking rights--meaning they had published a book, or were active in some way in conservative political spheres.
One of the speakers was there to talk about how a convention is dangerous and how we should do all we could to make sure one never happens. He gave a really good speech in that he had the crowd vocally agreeing with him, big applause at the end. I spoke and was told afterward by various folks I had been persuasive and that they wanted links to more information. One guy told me I had changed his mind about whether or not a federal convention were dangerous, he said he realized it’s exactly what runaway government doesn’t want.
Driving back to Santa Barbara, I was struck by the question and had to remind myself how I got here. When I was in my twenties, the stereo-typical surfer, drinking beer, smoking cannabis, and chasing tail, I had no idea what I was going to do, I just had a strong desire to do something good. So I went on as a poet, writing and reading far and wide. Then 9/11 hit, and knowing what I did, I knew the event would create a vacuum of power and the bad guys were going to start dismantling human rights and protections in various ways. I knew of the convention clause, knew what it would do if it ever happened, and dedicated my life to doing what I could to make it happen. This September will have been ten years of various legal actions, writing, attending conferences, and talking with folks on the street. Of all those years, it’s only within the last year that blogposts are starting to go up across the internet about it.
People who say they’re not political or they don’t get involved in politics aren’t really as bright as they think they are. In blunt terms, every breath anyone takes is political. Why? Because every thought is political, and if you aren’t breathing, you aren’t thinking. Every action is either for common good or against. Why? Because everything is connected. And people who say they have their issue which they focus on, which addresses a symptom? Do you want hobby-horse politics, or do you want real politics?
Are we going to get out of this mess? Are we going to derail the corporatization of the planet? I don’t know. I do understand well enough how the idea of a convention, or asking someone to think of it, is tantamount to asking them to bite the hand that feeds. I understand all that well, but there’s something about thought and action that makes a mark on how things unfold. Ever going south and inland, use the 71.
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