Sunday, January 13, 2013

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
 
 
 
 


Monday, January 7, 2013

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


Saturday, January 5, 2013

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
 


Friday, January 4, 2013

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


Thursday, January 3, 2013

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