114. The Future

Man has a choice.
Between dark.
Between light.
Who will write the pages of the next thousand years?
Will it be peace and harmony with nature and ourselves
Living in a glorious utopian paradise?
Or will there only be more bloodshed and violence
As we fall into the chasm
Of our own making?
When will our star fall from its lofty height?
What new stars will replace us?
Will they pave their roads with us
As we with those before?
There will be new Ozymandias statues
Erected and worn like the old.
Who will come to sing our song?
I don’t know.
The muse hasn’t told me.
I only report what comes to my fingers.
My muse tells me only what has been written.
But she says this,
It’s only the prologue to an even greater story.

113. December, 2012

“The world was supposed to end today,”
Said the man on the street.
“Spare some change?”
“Help a fellow man?”
“You have no need of it anyway.”
“The world was supposed to end today,”
Said the charlatan.
“I’ll give you a little safety.”
“Just buy it from me.”
“Stir the pot with fears.”
“Give me your money”
“I’ll see you through.”
“The world supposed to end today,”
Said the conspiracy theorist.
“Nibiru,”
“Tsunamis,”
“Fire from the sky,”
“Hold your breath when the volcano erupts,”
“As governments poison our food supply.”
“The earth will be taken from under our feet.”
“Beware the solar flare”
“When the shifting planet comes”
“To turn over government falsehoods”
“Blowing the whistles of truth.”
“The world supposed to end today,”
Said the fearful corporate man.
“You won’t find me staring death down”
“I’ll be crouched deep inside”
“My luxurious condo under ground.”
“The world was supposed to end today,”
Said the Buddhist monk, the priest, the imam.
Preaching from their holy places
Of religious bliss and rebirth
In the glorious afterlife.
“The world supposed to end today,”
The experts were misunderstood.
“Tsunamis are old news.”
“Super volcanoes erupt every thousand years.”
“Huricanes, Tonadoes,”
“All just a little nature.”
“Nothing to worry about.”
“The world was supposed to end today,”
Said the boy.
He chewed his gum.
He played his games.
Worry free
Expecting the sun to rise on a new day.
So the world lived on.
No rapture.
Impe died of natural causes
Pat Robertson’s still alive.
No people knocking on Heaven’s door.
They weren’t lifted up
To meet the UFO.
No monstrous man
To throw into a pit of fire.
Believers and non believers alike
Are still alive to bicker among themselves.
A disaster here.
A dictator there.
Wall Street’s ups and downs
The elections will be close.
All business as usual.

112. Another Revolution

The man on the hill,

The man in economic mountains,

The man on the street,

Became bitter enemies

A new revolution

Spreading throughout the world

Occupying the nation

As people protested against failing government and corruption.

Greece tumbled

From economic prosperity,

The Union of Europe

Scrambled to their aid.

Arabs had their spring.

The Middle East erupted with fire

To deal with their bullying dictators.

The Spring turned to Fall

Then Winter

Back to spring.

Iran threatened Israel

Promising possible nuclear annihilation.

As the world continued to burn and change

America looked over the rift of a new election.

Politicians preached their promises to people

Saying they will change.

People went “Psh”

As they play their iPhony games

Being sucked into a Facebook reality.

The election’s rift

Is where the future will be.

No change from said politicians

Nothing from violence and bloodshed.

Slavery on the chocolate Ivory Coast

While men kill and kidnap in Africa.

Nothing new.

Everything’s the same

At least the technology’s shiny.

At least a retweet showed you care.

111. September 11 and Another War

From deep within the caves of Afghanistan
A man ordered an attack.
A cell was activated and buildings were brought down.
People demanded the truth
Expecting more conspiracy.
No truth was trusted.
The bush’s honesty was questioned
When he sent us back to Iraq.
Wall Street was supported.
The economy collapsed.
Did the bush want these things?
Or was it all coincidence?
Future generations will have to decide.
The bush left office.
A man promising change stepped up.
He made great speeches.
Made powerful promises,
Was elected,
Breaking a new racial boundary.
His presidency brought controversy
As conspiracy ran rampant in the media.
They questioned his birth.
They questioned his citizenship.
They formed parties with tea.
They scrutinized and criticized him.
They fought him at every turn.
Alas, no change came.
As for that little evil hermit in the cave.
He was found by secret men
Taken to his hellish rest.

110. Into the Twenty-first Century

The Cold War passed into history.

The climate slowly heated.

A bush was elected

We had another war.

Saddam, the bully, made trouble.

He stomped over to Kuwait.

With a yell of “Mine!” he took the oil.

We went in, took him out, then left.

The bush said no new taxes

But raised them anyway.

We elected a Clinton.

He brought troops to Bosnia

To fight Europe’s genocide.

He warned us of new threats

But his scandal came in too loud.

The Twentieth Century closed with a bang.

Fireworks and fear made an exciting mix.

Computers that proliferated and multiplied like bunnies

Threatened to shut down because of a number.

There was never any chaos.

The end did not come.

In the heat of the warming sun

We moved on into the new Millennium.

Another bush became president.

But it was almost a gore.

109. The End of the Cold War

Thus the world moved into another decade.
More presidents came.
They dealt with the Soviet problem in other ways.
Disco was born and died
But the mirror ball was kept.
A new decade sped through.
The rock got louder and wilder
As its great golden age reached its peak.
Hair and clothes became crazy.
Symphonies were performed with electric guitars
As singers burned the stage
With pyrotechnic words,
Colorful, blistering music
And wild backroom parties with white powder and bottles.
At the end of this golden age of rock
A president came to destroy the Soviets once and for all.
“Tear down this wall!” he said.
The ultimatum was set.
A new race started
As people hid in their shelters
Holding on
Drowning in their sweat
Hoping to wake up from this horrible nightmare.
He built his weapons.
Tried to bring them to space.
The Soviets couldn’t keep up.
They ran out of money
The war slowly tapered out.

108. The Space Race

When the red haired man came to office
He gave us challenges.
He challenged the Soviets in Cuba.
He challenged his citizens.
He challenged us in a race to the moon.
Soviets started with Sputnik.
Then we started our own with animals and, finally, people.
We made great headway
The modules slowly developed
As Gemini became Apollo
The race continued onward.
Sprinting into the future.
Armstrong was selected for the mission.
The rockets blasted off.
They landed,
He stepped onto new soil.
One small step for man
And a giant leap
Into the future.
The flag was planted and footprints preserved.
The quietness of space was different
From the chaos at home.
May that chaos never disturb the silent peace of space.
Instead of shouting from the mountaintops like the sun wanted,
We quietly looked in awe at the fragile beauty of the earth.
Before the red-haired man’s dreams could come true,
A bullet from the books
Sent him away.

107. The Cultural Revolution

“You say you want a revolution.”(Revolution, The Beatles)

The sixties.

A new revolution.

A cultural one.

Rock and Roll.

Elvis played.

Then the British invade

With beatles and animals.

Later monkeys and turtles.

They brought the mind tripping psychedelics

And doors that opened perceptions.

Sex, drugs, and colorful hippies

Danced,

Played,

Down and dirty in the streets.

Tune in, turn on, drop out.

Sit down and listen.

Watch.

Hear.

Music fests brought new freedom and rebellion.

All seemed far out.

But no one knew.

The next part of the decade saw great defeat

And great victory.

The descendants of the slaves

Started marching after an incident on the bus.

If it’s worth fighting for

Then they must put in the effort.

They stood up for their rights as equals.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on the mall of his dream.

An amendment was passed.

Segregation ended.

Vietnam exploded.

Armies were sent.

But things became a lot worse with the new president.

The hippies found a cause to believe in.

They grabbed signs and protested.

They stood up to their government

As they preached peace, love and rose colored glasses

With flowers in rifles.

News became valuable.

Putting faces to the casualties of war.

“Our men are being killed!”

“We must bring them home!”

106. McCarthyism and the Deception of Peace

“I have a list!”

A man from the shadows of government said,

“Of all known Commies out there!”

Who was on the list?

People wondered.

People speculated.

They turned their neighbors in.

They turned friends in.

They turned coworkers in.

Paranoia was the word

That McCarthy brought.

Out of the crucible of American politics

Came witch hunts and conspiracies

To overthrow the government.

As the fifties rolled on and the blistering cold kept persisting.

War in Korea failed and the split remained.

According to the Beaver and the Cleavers

The country was full of upright citizens.

Full of hat-wearing dads and stay-at-home moms

Who made apple pie.

Of little boys who played baseball

Eating that pie at the table after saying grace.

Conformity and structure

Made life seem pleasant

In the suburban household.

Men who went to an idyllic office job

Doing who knows what.

Kids only complained about school with their bully problems.

“See Billy?” said the man on the film reel,

“Isn’t it great”

“To be in such an individualistic society?”

“Not like those Commies.”

“Right Dad?”

But that wasn’t the real fifties

Was it?

There was fear.

Nuclear tests caused radioactive havoc in lands far away.

“We must perfect the killing machine”, they said.

“Or else they will get us.”

Keep working.

Keep sleeping.

“Or else they will get us”

Presidents passed.

Father knows best

Duck and cover.

Build your bomb shelters.

Stock them with freeze-dried foods.

Hope for the best because they are out there and they will get us.