Mortality: a small book of poetry

Below is the title poem, the rest of the 16 poems are in the video.

Poetry by David H. Roche (C) 2015

Some Thoughts On Peace And War (poetry and art)

     Peace does not come from religions,

      movements or political parties.

      Peace is not a group activity.

      Peace is not the result of law and order or legislation.

      If peace is not inside of you

      there will never be peace outside of you.

Peace is a quality that must come from within.  It is not something which can be mandated from without and it is not something that a group of people agree on.  To have peace on the outside there must be peace on the inside first.  When peace is on the inside it will show itself on the outside.  The process does not work in reverse.

 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  ... Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:..." Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus was not a religious man.  It was the religious folk that hated him because he was not religious.  He understood something about the nature of the human experience that had gotten lost in all the 'right' and 'wrong' characterizations of religion.

What Jesus sought to convey in his teaching of the good news about the Kingdom of God was the fundamental reality that we are all one in God.  Only when the ramifications of being all one in God are understood can inner peace come about. Only when inner peace is achieved by the comprehension that we are all one can outer peace begin to show itself in the world at large. 

I made the video below which I titled Guantanamo.  It depicts the misery of confinement and torture of people.  Both the torturers and the tortured have no peace because peace is not inside of them.  So they wage war and suffer the consequences of the lack of inner peace and the world suffers from endless war.

Poetry, photography, and video 

(C) by David H. Roche 2015

The G.W. Bush Memorial Clinic (art by David H. Roche)

The war President and world leader G.W.Bush on May 1, 2003 declared "Mission Accomplished".  He intimated that his forces had defeated the enemy in Iraq.  The American public rejoiced.  This was not a long drawn out war like Vietnam.  This war had been a cakewalk. His "Mission Accomplished" speech can be read here in Wikipedia.


It is now generally understood that he did not mean that the war had been won, but that the purposes of the war had been accomplished. The accomplishment spoken of was the introduction of an era of "Endless War".  The following article in counterpunch explains.

Up to June of 2011 the cost of the war on terror was calculated to be in the ball park of $5 Trillion according to Time magazine.  It's a lot more now.

Have you asked yourself: "who received this money from the American Taxpayer?"  Here is a short list of the profiteers from the endless war on terror provided by the Huffington Post.  

This brings us back to the great war President G.W. Bush.  His heroism during the Vietnam war is well documented making him equipped to lead the nation in the war on terror.  You can read from a fellow Texan about the heroism of G.W. Bush during the Vietnam War.  

The President and his declaration of "Mission Accomplished" has led to large profits for a few corporate entities and this is expected to continue for a long time. The invasion of Iraq is the reason for the rising up of ISIS and the continuing of war profits for war profiteers forever. His friends in the various industries will think fondly of him for quite a long time. You can read about this at "The Real News.com".  

It was thinking about this and the result was that I made the following poster commemorating the "G.W. Bush Memorial Clinic."  Just imagine if G.W. had declared a war on healthcare costs!  This is how I envision it would turn out.  "Mission Accomplished." 

You have to laugh.

Gods At The End Of Civilization

I wrote couple poems about current events.  Today the entire world is controlled by the private interests of a few financial institutions.  Recently the United States Supreme Court has said these private interests have as much rights as those who can read these words, drink water and have families they love.  

The court decreed that these private business groups are in fact people with unalienable rights just like living breathing human beings. These newly commissioned 'people' have a loud voice, one which politicians hear and listen to in lieu of hearing other voices to the contrary.

The private business interests are few compared to the masses of ordinary public people.  But yet the private business groups in their private conversations are listened to by those who make the laws and the voices of multitudes of ordinary citizens fall on deaf ears.

There is no longer a class that is "the people" in the ordinary sense.  Now there is the "people" who do not breathe, drink water, get hungry or have families that influence the halls of congress.  The former "people" have been cut loose to go begging.

I wrote the following poems with that thought in mind.

Litany of the Poor and Oppressed

Beseeching the Oppressor

We don't want the things you want,

we want employment

Chorus:  you want profit.

We don't want the things you want,

we want clean air and water.

Chorus:  you want profit.

We don't want the things you want,

we want friends and neighbors

Chorus: you want enemies,

you want profit.

We don't want the things you want,

we want peace on earth.

Chorus: you want endless war

and profit.

Benediction:

May God grant us employment.

May God grant us clean air and water.

May God grant us friends and neighbors.

My God grant us peace on earth.

Amen.

The poem was written to be read by one person and the refrain "you want profit", or in the case of the last two stanzas the last two lines, to be spoken by a chorus punctuating each stanza.

                    What Does Poverty Mean? 

(Or Did Marie Antoinette Have It Coming?)

Among other things poverty means

eating rice and beans every day,

it means counting raisins and

scrimping on sugar for your oatmeal.

It means asking a friend if she can give you

enough coffee to last to the first of the month,

it means milk, butter and eggs

cost more than you have,

it means toast and peanut butter,

but no jelly.

Poverty defines life,

it narrows and pinches it.

It means late notices,

and power shut off ,

it replaces well-being with despair

and thoughts of insurrection.

Marie Antoinette had it coming…

didn't she?

I put my sentiments into poetry and visual art. 

You can see the  visual art in the video below.

I'm one of the people who need air, water and food to live. I bet you are too.

Poetry and art copyright 2015 

by David H. Roche

An Artists Look At The End And Re-birth Of Civilization

An Artists Look At The End And Re-birth Of Civilization

While not deliberately setting out to describe the end and re-birth of the human race and civilization that is what appears to have happened in the first 9 days of 2015.

The nation is a success when Wall Street prospers. Wall Street is the cathedral of the God of society. Wall Street makes money by financing war, creating national instability and producing the decay of society.  Wall Street is picking the meat from the carcass of the world.

Lady Liberty is taking her last steps.  So-long, it's been good to know you.

Lady Liberty's last steps.

Art by David H. Roche (C) 2015