First, create public opinion. Last, fly alone.

first, create public opinion

thinker activist therorist

swirling levels of technical debate

factional struggles within the party

warlords on the prowl

who can hold their own

on June 22, 1937

MAO portrait published

constructed edifice of ideological dominance

thanks to Chen Boda

 

fellow workers

needed leadership

i refused to take advantage

gross wanted power

i could have put my name on top

the masthead of wobbly city

insisted that the truth come out

when gross got angry for exposing him

i could have jumped all over him

and our union would have grown

instead of falling star-bucked

 

now in Taichung on the Han River

without a deeper purpose

she says that i'm retired

that's only on the surface

was like Papillion trying to get free

and made it out okay...

 egrets fly alone

one by one

following their instinct

am i any different?

1-24-13

 

 

 

 

 

I'm your white Jewish radio

i'm your white Jewish radio

and you're my Taiwanese Asian TV

i'm your Wynonie Harris

and you're my Elvis Presley

i'm your Big Joe Turner

and you're my Bill Haley

and we're both black entertainment

though our skins are yellow and pink

i'm your Sun record

and you're my RCA

i'm your Parlaphone

and you're my VeeJay

everyone hears you

no one listens to what i say

yeah, i came first

yeah i come fast

but i let you come first

'cause you make me last

you're under me

'cause on top you'd make me pop

so i hold you down

and you bring me up

i make the sounds on the radio

in your lovin' cup

you shook me down

and i'm all shook up

treat me nice be my spice

i'll be your meaty cad

remember who liberates you

he is not your dad

1-21-13



What is the next step?

what is the next step?

there is no next step.

this is not an instruction.

there is nothing to construct.

it does not further one to have somewhere to go.

 

the stupid cat he blew it

just like me he blew it

we could not see right through it

we thought that we could do it

 

we cannot escape the sound of

running over the same old ground

that wildness is not wilderness

and there is nothing to be found

only burning up and turning around

 

gnats that fly right down my throat

when the bike rides through the bush

stick there unswallowed until they molt

that 'going nowhere' jolt

 

we have got to stop expecting

that strands will be connecting

nothing worth protecting

what i would rather see

like little birds flitting brightly

into tea green leafy bushes

 

near the bike upon the path

is a dead brown dried-up dyke bush

wall blocking Han flowing

factory sounds and motors

drowning the rushing stream

1-16-13

 

 

 



Brooklyn in the news today

Brooklyn in the news today

international news

maimonidies hospital

on podcast Nightly News

influenza everywhere

and pharmacutical innoculations

ready to be sold

reporter gave his views

there's brooklyn in the news today

news all over the English speaking world

there's Breezy Point in Rockaway

Katrina a dead giveaway

 poor folks' homes still blown away

and Arron Swartz died by his own hand today

The Taipei Times did rightly say

who was Arron Swartz?

not a personal tragedy but

produced by a criminal justice system

rife with imtimidation

and prosecutorial overreach

of Amerikan police state

 where the world's entire scientific and cultural heritage

is being digitized and locked up by corporations

Brooklyn in the news today

there's no place to excape to

thanks for the reminder

 

1-14-13

 

 

 

 



Ride Back to Her

going going going away

is something more than going back

i don't know what that something is

something to do i know how to do

but sometimes i wonder why

then when i want to cry

i remember why

i go back to Lin Shih-Hwang

she knows just where i've been

gives me hope and helps me win

i rely on her and go

as far as i can go

depending on her to be there

when i feel like dying

 she's there and

although she minds wants me

so i ride back to her blind

and sleep there every night

and when the feeling's right

 take each other's love we might

 

1-8-13



Four Men Came Up From The River

four men came up from the river

climbing the boulder dyke

with bags and sachels

each one to his bike

and rode away down a field path

what did they find?

did they find what they went down there for?

looks like they did

and they did it together

 

 

Tsen-Tien-Gong has an event

101 years of doing something

from 9:30 to 12:30 today

the 102nd year on its way

people coming in cars on cycles

people leaving with blankets and gifts

did they get what they came here for?

looks like they did

and they all belonged

 

i sit here on the pebbled wall

disconnected and ignored

if i fall i'm all alone

with only my wife's family

and two cats at my feet

i swing my legs around so bicyclists can pass

but no one says thanks or cares for my ass

i don't know where i belong

nor am i doing it together with anyone

belonging nowhere and with no one

anyone who wants me?

only those who want me

call me when they want me

 

1-6-13



The Human Face is a Terrible Place

the human face is a terrible place

but people are the greatest fun

in a race to place names on Facebook

it looks so popular on the top

great ideas can make you rich

with workers loyal to company heads

organizations are sensations

with women in communities

men in seniorities

so bring them to a party

see families starting

playfully coming and parting

student from teacher

congregation from preacher

rabbi from bullseye

see who pulls the fools eye

dealer and gambler

addict and rambler

union's rank and file

parent and the child

explorer in the wild

but now you're losing face

back to the same silent space

jungle of people

moving obsticles - about face!

without grace

or too much grace

people are the funniest race

what a waste, what a waste

give me give me one more taste

but remember,

retirees make no haste

 

1-6-13

 

 

 

 



Put Out to Pasture

put out to pasture

so leave me alone

that i may roam

teach you if you want to learn

learn if i was right all along

but now i'm in my own time

schemes have faded into the night

food and places on the venue

finding it 

 on the banks of the Han River

fifty million light years beyond now

with the sky mountains and tao

1-5-13

 



At Least Two Assholes Every Scooter

at least two assholes every scooter

one of flesh and one of pewter

each one farting harmful gas

both smell bad but one will pass

while the other on earth will stay

killing us some other day

 heaven help those who'll pay

 clean living lovers who want to play

 though the sky's turned chalky gray

 progress that we choke

capitalistic smoke

yet wear the masks do they

for others in their way

 helps the guilty cope

let's rip them off those dopes

 

1-5-13



Sung to "Urge For Going"

once i live in Brooklyn town

i had tallow olive-colored skin

it wasn't easy working things out

so i stayed mostly in

ethnic pride unofficially destroyed

yuppified neighborhoods

 that only outsiders could enjoy

i had the urge for going

and going i did go

 

i had the urge for going when

occupy was dead downtown

and wall street was a holy ground

with sandy closing in

 

once i had a high school job

but teachers just-ice was growing thin

officials closed us down and broke us up

corporate news added to the din

students laughed at teachers' blows

passed the tests despite having

brains the size of lint between toes

i had the urge for teaching

where a chancellor wouldn't thumb his nose

 

i had the urge for teaching where

parents cared what was going down

 learning was the only sound

 and dumbing-down was a sin

 

i used to have a union hall

where workers learned to sink or swim

it was filled with fools so full of fluff

they sat in their offices and grinned

they told us this and told us that

and when we scream they carted out

their giant inflatable rat

so i had the urge for going

and took with me two sabo cats

 

i had the urge for going when

wobs and a-f-hellers held me down

officially silencing the demo sounds

till i knew we'd never win

1-4-13