Suffering: a meditation (Poetry)

Suffering: a meditation

suffering explained at this link

A young man parked his car and jumped from the bridge yesterday morning…,

an old man unaware
in the park below

burst into tears

while reminiscing.

The body hasn't been found,

the old man still cries in the park

and the tide keeps coming in

and going out.

© David H. Roche

Iran In The Crosshairs

You know it's true, 

now it's up to you.

Stars In Your Eyes

I got the idea from something I read 

a long time ago about all of us 

being made of stardust.  

So I began to doodle. 

The video below is the end result.

Stars In Your Eyes

Political Solutions: Brexit (political art)

Political Solutions Are No Longer Working

So I was thinking after listening to this talk (at the highlighted link) by Howard Zinn on the topic of patriotism, government and citizens in a democracy.  His words got me to thinking and then I began to write. Listen to his lecture. 

He's an interesting guy who participated willingly in the destruction of Germany during WW2 and became a historian and social critic afterward. At the following highlighted link is Zinn talking about "Three Holy Wars."

Americans and the rest of the people in the world are in the grip of something that is strangling the life out of them. That something is the current economic organization of society which mandates the present world conditions as a likely outcome of the rules governing the economic system. 

"Grin and bear it, it will get better." we have been told.  The experts are not that hopeful anymore even as the politicians hold rallies and avoid confronting reality by selling promises never meant to be kept.
It's a bitter bread they're baking that we the people are being forced to buy and eat.  

The people who were elected have sold us out. Ninety percent of the time lawmakers give the non-voting donor class what it wants. To support this obvious obfuscation the important decisions at the highest levels of our government have produced a propaganda program that has the characteristics of a madcap party hosted by the Marx Brothers, Albert and Costello and Laurel and Hardy. We recognize that madcap party as the Trump Administration along with it's supporters in congress and out.

People are capable of extremes of behavior. We can make war and we can make peace. Is it possible the present economic system does not hold the possibility of peace? So far it has not worked out. You can see that, right? (Smedley Butler at the link)

If you think your civil rights are still intact it might be a good time to begin using as many of them as you can. At the highlighted link is an audio essay by Henry Thoreau.  Thoreau is an American original. This work on THE DUTY of civil disobedience has inspired many. At one time it was required reading. It was time of war with no end in sight leaving only a horrible past to remember and an even more horrible future to imagine. 

Here we are again.

I'll let Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky leave something for your thoughts about what to do with your civil rights.

"The April Fools Movement" (worker satire) APRIL FOOLS ISSUE

After posting I encountered this interview with economist Michael Hudson.

The movement began on the first day of January  with a post on the internet by the eccentric and mysterious billionaire from Zambia, Melon Husk, with an offer of forming a world wide workers union. Husk offered to provide a 'bottomless' strike fund to support the workers while they were on strike.  It was a brief message with a web address where workers anywhere in the world could register and join the union. There was no trouble convincing the labor force to join.

The message said: "If you are underpaid, if the quality of your life is not to your liking join the Worldwide Workers International Labor Collective.

The WWILC will make your life better."

At the website the goals of the WWILC were simple. A living wage, completely paid healthcare, affordable housing, ample free educational opportunities, paid vacations, and one year of fully paid maternity leave for each parent.

The idea spread like a virus in a daycare facility and before the first day of March a billion workers worldwide had joined and more were learning about it and joining daily.  There was to be, on the first day of April, a worldwide strike. And so there was.

On April 1 the entire WWILC membership of slightly more than one billion workers did not show up to work. Instead they were on the sidewalks with informational brochures explaining the strike and the conditions which caused the workers to organize. Around the world commerce ground to a halt.

Banks could not open, no restaurants opened, no gas stations opened, grocery stores were closed, the doctor might be in his office, but his staff was not. Every aspect of life that required labor to provide a service was affected.

It was a successful strike that lasted the entire month of April.  Every sweatshop around the world ceased production and when it was over The People had won. The strike came to be known as "The April Fools Movement" and the first day of April is now celebrated annually and the workers lived happily ever after.

If you have not heard the song "Banks of Marble" listening to it may inspire you to rise up and improve your chances which are growing slimmer every passing day.

Mr. and Mrs. Goose

Mr. and Mrs. Goose returned some time around the first of March.  When they began showing up I was pleased to see them again and began bringing out cracked corn each time they returned.

All was well up until a couple of days ago when a second pair of geese landed in the pond and there was a flurry of interaction between the two pairs of geese.

Later that afternoon only Mr. Goose returned.  Mrs. Goose had flown off with the other pair and abandoned him. 

He came just before dark and called and called for her and she did not answer.  I stood in the yard with him as it grew dark while he called over and over again. His voice was like the sound a saxophone with a split reed makes. His cry brought tears to my eyes because no one answered him. It was a lonely, sorrowful, heartbreaking squawking cry and he repeated it over and over before he flew away alone.

This morning a single goose flew overhead I heard it honking and looked out the window.  Mr. Goose has not come for corn today.  I hope he comes back.

Reflections (poetry)

Reflections

Several times today

in windows and mirrors and memories

I saw my face.

.

The years have taken almost all

of  what was "Me"

and what is left is leaving...

for an eagerly anticipated rendezvous.

Several times today I thought

of a flower gone to seed;

and the time for planting once again

approaching.

 

© David H. Roche 2019

Reality Check (political poster)

An Uncomfortable Truth

after making this post Jimmy Dore presented a timely interview with Norman Finkelstein it can be seen at the link.

I made a poster this morning as a correction of the slanted nature of the corporate news reporting on the atrocities being perpetrated in Palestine. They'd just have to stop and think and it would be plain to see who is the anti-Semite in this equation. The only Semites being persecuted are the Palestinians and they are being persecuted by the State of Israel, a government.

The 'Machine' is broken.

The repairman says it cannot be fixed.

It has to be replaced.

Vespers (Poetry and photography)

Vespers

At dusk Mr. Goose stands guard

as Mrs. Goose eats corn.

This is a protocol I have noticed.

She eats,

he stands guard,

and then he eats.

There will be goslings this spring.

That's what this is all about.

After dinner Mrs. Goose preens

and Mr. Goose eats

before both waddle away

to watch the sunset on the edge of the pond.

© David H. Roche

Cold Snap (nature photography)

I came across the video while looking for one I did not find. You might like it.

                               Cold Snap

Enjoy!

The Sacred And The Profane (poetry)

The Sacred And The Profane

At 7:30 yellow sunshine spreads faintly across the grass and blacktop accompanied by the long pale shadowy hints of trees and rooftops.

Two Canada Geese eat corn sprinkled in the grass. 

One eats and the other stands guard

and then the other eats 

while the mate stands guard.

They make soft grunting sounds,

eating their share and leaving some behind

for the scrappy jays,

the mourning doves and

the red-winged blackbirds.

"Purple-Dee" the red-wings sing.

"Oooo, Oooo" the mourning doves moan

and a chorus of fifty Mallards quack softly while devouring grass and corn. .

It was a beautiful day until 8:30

when I turned on the news

and saw what men were up to. 

(C) David H. Roche 2019

Mr. And Mrs. Goose Return

This morning ten Canada Geese, a much larger bunch of Mallard Ducks, a few Red-winged Blackbirds and a single Flicker showed up for a breakfast of cracked corn.

Last year a pair of Canada Geese mooched off me daily until all at once they left. They did leave, but of the two one returned for several days. It was the male that returned to say good-bye on two or three successive days. Then he was gone.

Both were accustomed to greeting me and would walk up to within a foot or two of me to be fed. I would speak to them. I wanted to touch him, but I didn't dare. They may be birds but they can strike like a cobra. Their snake-like necks are weaponized with beaks that bite like a lightning strike!  Hard! It's amazing to see.  I didn't want any part of that. 

Anyway Mr. and Mrs. Goose left at the end of May last year and I think they may have returned on the first of March.

At this link is a video of Mr. and Mrs. Goose from last spring.  And another from the day of his last visit when he encountered Spot, my cat.

While watching them there began among the geese a conversation that started with honking. I recognized it as the signal to take off.  (Note: As the honking increases it rises into a frenzy until the flock takes off.) Eight of the ten entirely agreed, and flew off.

The two geese remaining have come back for lunch… and afternoon snacks. I'm hoping they're Mr. and Mrs. Goose. I'm hoping they'll be back tomorrow morning.

Enjoy the videos

Daydream By The Riverside

A sunny, bright, frigid morning allowed me to have the Riverwalk to myself with the exception of a seagull. The wooden planks were icy and the sunlight sparkling on the frosty planks and the white caps on the river were blowing my mind.

If reality is a virtual reality then God has made a great video game for us to grow up in.

Daydream By The Riverside

Astoria-Megler Bridge and Riverwalk

Feeding Frenzy: Red-Winged Blackbirds (video and photos)

Feeding Frenzy:

Red-Winged Blackbirds

The red-winged blackbirds generally arrive in a swarm numbering between 50 and 100, give or take a few, individual birds. Unless there is food already in the feeder after arriving they wait in the high branches of the surrounding trees. Their voices repeating 'Purple-dee, Purple-dee', in a stereophonic chorus make an upbeat soundtrack to accompany the morning's coffee.

It seems as if they expect me because within a few seconds of entering the house the flock is usually swarming around the feeding tree. Perhaps they have a circuit they follow and I'm merely one place on the route. They can eat a lot, I'll say that much.

Enjoy the video

Meditations of a Vagabond Spirit (video)

February 10th (poetry and video reading)

February 10th

February 10th (poetry)

February 10th

As darkness is in the process of leaving

and sunlight draws a line

along the edge of the hilltop in the East

the bird feeder in the front yard

and the pond across the street

gradually appear. 

After filling the feeder with sunflower seeds,

scattering cracked corn on the ground

and going back inside…

the birds arrive.

I knew they would,

it's a routine we have.

So begins the experience of February 10th.

© David H. Roche

Probabilities (video art from Serendipity Studios)

Looking Left With 2020 Vision

Looking Left With 2020 Vision

I found this  after posting
and it fits right in. 
"Let's talk about Socialism" Richard Wolff

Scavengers At The End Of Civilization

(after posting I came across the interview at the highlighted link by Jordan Chariton with Ralph Nader which if you listen to will provide a lot of useful information) 

2020 has become the focal point that has fixated the American electorate. Sometimes I feel sympathy for the American people because they have been jerked around and lied to for their entire lives. But it boggles my mind when I try to figure out why it is the American voters are so gullible until I remember I was gullible once myself. This article written by Charles Austin published September 22,2017 in the web only issue of In These Times exposes the problems the American voter faces. 

Money in politics encourages corruption. If you'd like to examine the breakdown of the study from those who collected and analyzed the data leading to that conclusion you can do so. The investigation was done by The Roosevelt Institute. It's here at the highlighted link.  

Another book written by a corrupt American politician explains that corruption is the way politics in America works. George Washington Plunkitt a well respected Senator from the State of New York praises what he calls 'graft'. There's good 'graft' and bad 'graft' and Plunkitt makes plain how to go after and get the good 'graft'.  "Plunkitt of Tammany Hall" is the name of the book.

"A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics, Delivered by Ex-senator George Washington Plunkitt, the Tammany Philosopher, from His Rostrum — the NewYork County Court House Bootblack Stand." 

Finding oneself at the mercy of politicians who are working for the non voting donor class of artificially created 'corporate non-human people' is not a good place for a voter to find oneself. Especially if you are part of a human family with ordinary everyday needs that are dismissed by the elite ruling class of corporately biased politicians.

Under the Trump Administration the Republicans and Democrats have by all appearances agreed to consider the ordinary everyday needs of the voter to be of negligible concern to them. This horrendous spectacle of government shutdown produced by the Republican and Democratic lawmakers demonstrates how completely out of touch the Republican and Democrats are with the fundamental needs wishes and desires of the voting class of human beings. Their actions indicate they simply do not have a clue. Or maybe they just don't care.

So we have the voting class looking for new ideas and it has come upon the old time remedy for these problems. Socialism is once again being considered in several formats in an attempt to find ideas that will amend the problems created by the malfeasance of the Republican and Democratic lawmakers over the last 40 years or so. 

Life on Main Street America has gone rapidly down hill ever since the Reagan Administration. The problems we are encountering today in the U.S. are the direct result of Republican and Democratic lawmakers deciding to consider the wishes of 'corporate people' who are unable to vote as the basis for making laws. You didn't make the laws of this diseased society, I didn't do it, they did do it. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have demonstrated they cannot be counted on to respond to the voters wishes  even for things as fundamental as their most basic human needs such as employment, housing, healthcare and education. It's time to show them the door.

So 2020 is a real big deal. America, and Americans themselves are on the verge of disappearing into an unregulated corporate wasteland. They are desperate for new faces in the legislative bodies and above all new ideas about the purpose of having a government. It is dawning on many that up to now they have been used to enrich the Wall Street elite donor class. You can imagine how the people must feel realizing they've been treated like dogs. Some not that good, even the master takes the dog to the vet, but many Americans go begging when they get sick.

I'm happy to see the alternative voices that have begun to speak out. It's a good sign.  Many of the voices are young and they are going to have to live in the world. Their input is necessary and expected. God bless them.

New ideas of any value to human beings cannot be expected to arise from Republican or Democratic planners. The reason is because all they do is done within the constraints of the relationship between the politician and the corporate donor class. If this is not completely accurate it is mostly accurate and it is a good way to describe the need to breach this partnership of politicians who take money from those who cannot vote and make laws on behalf of those who cannot vote. There is something fundamentally wrong with that scenario. You can readily see why it's not good to have those kind of relationships continuing in a society which is supposed to be run democratically. It's the antithesis of the democratic process!

That seems to be the reason many Americans are now willing to look to the Left and consider the previously culturally forbidden ideas that have always come to the forefront when the effects of the elite donor class have made life on Main Street undesirable.