Right now I wish that I had a big box of frozen fish sticks that I could bake in the oven and then serve up on toast. You see, I am a man of most modest needs whose desires are on an even lower level. Really low. Like down in the gutter low. Cholera low. The-sewer-is-my-world low. Have I delineated my position? The deepest pits of Hell low. Just another crab in Satan’s pubic hair. Can ya suss that? I hope so. (Cuz I’m running out of similes.…)
Thursday 27 February 2020
Haiku #321/322
Clouds bring passing shade.
Shade grows too from objects’ feet.
Shade’s proof of the real.
Light negates darkness.
The brightest of lights blind you.
I touch you to know.
Tuesday 25 February 2020
Sunday 23 February 2020
Friday 21 February 2020
Wednesday 19 February 2020
Tuesday 18 February 2020
On Revolution
A true revolution, as the word implies, can be likened to a wheel, specifically a wheel that never stops turning. Ideally, a revolution is endless. If the aim is to create a better world for humanity, then change must be continuous, for no plan for a perfect world exists. What can exist is the desire of humanity to continue to strive towards the perfection of our world and of society, in the light of the knowledge that there will be no ultimate victory. Revolution is not a state but a process. If you can date the end of any revolution then, while change may have occurred, it was not a revolution in the true sense of the word. All revolutions that do, historically, have a beginning and an end, may indeed have been a time of social upheaval but they were not revolutions, and all that they accomplished was the replacement of one type of status quo with another.
Monday 17 February 2020
Destiny
The expectation of
Experience creates
A hunger in the mind.
The need for the novel
Is part of the heart.
The soul thirsts for
That elusive elixir mixed
Of knowledge distilled,
An intoxicating fuel
Impelling us onwards,
Intellectual inertia
Ensuring an endless
Quest.
Sunday 16 February 2020
On Self-Censorship
When a person reads a text, if they come across a statement with which they seriously disagree, cognitive dissonance kicks in & the opposing passage gets overlooked and/or forgotten. It’s a way to defend one’s own viewpoint, by not dealing with the fact that contrary views exist.
Fleeting Being
I came to be.
I know duration.
Yet midst all of
The rotations of Earth,
My life is but a brief
Spark in the dark.
On Institutions: An Op-Ed
You cannot subvert a truly righteous institution. A righteous institution is aware of the reasons behind its creation, of whether its purpose is just or unjust, and its own history since its creation. It has the habit of looking into the mirror and it also has the ability to self-correct. Such an ideal institution is also conscious of whether it has outlived those reasons for which it was created, due to changes over time in the society that created it. It is this self-awareness of its own raison d’être, and of the possibility of its having become obsolete, that endow an institution with vitality within its societal framework. It is entirely possible that such an ideal institution cannot function as described in any society that is not comprised of ideal people. Certainly both democracy and communism, as described in their respective manifestos, have never been implemented in practice due to the fact that both philosophies of governance require societies composed of ideal populations in order to function as originally conceived. Be that as it may, ideals are still of value as goals towards which individuals, institutions and societies can aspire.
As just one example of an institution which does not fall within the rubric of a “righteous” construct, as outlined above, consider the American Electoral College which exists at the very heart of that nation’s Presidential election process.
Beginning right from its creation (by the aristocratic elite of the time and place) the Electoral College was designed to primarily advance and protect the interests of the upper crust, the highest echelons of American society. Its essential function is to act as a check on the power of the people who make up the majority of the electorate. The efficacy of the College is attested to by the ability of Presidential candidates to win the seat of the highest office in their country without winning the majority of the votes of the electorate, those who will be ruled by the winner of the Presidential race, the result of which is essentially “fixed” by the members of the Electoral College. The effects of the gerrymandering of voting districts and the various forms of voter suppression must not be overlooked and are in dire need of reformation but, the Electoral College must be eliminated in favour of direct elections, before America can get closer to becoming a democracy, an ideal which they purport to represent and which they so aggressively claim to export while, simultaneously, striving to expand their economic and military empire. If that doesn’t undercut their stated status of being a “democracy,” I cannot imagine what will.
Saturday 15 February 2020
Haiku #316
When there’s fire there’s smoke
Push button death threatens all
Earth isn’t ours to kill

Friday 14 February 2020
Thursday 13 February 2020
Saturday 8 February 2020
Tuesday 4 February 2020
Sunday 2 February 2020
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