The Liberal-Progressive Two-step

The music is starting
grab your partner

and dance
as if your life
depended on it

Do si do
to 911
but do so very carefully
dance around
the Reichstag Fires similarity
(you'd be much safer with
"The New Pearl Harbor")
dance around police abuse
impending financial armageddon
genetically modified and deadly foods
the perfectly obvious reason
for micro-chipping the U.S. population

and do not approach
impending genocide
do not approach
massive imminent domestic carnage
or this dance
will prove your last

Swing your partner
round and round
but sidestep
targetting
sidestep
death squads
and don't even mention
the water!

If your partner
is a mole
if your partner
is a plant
smile sweetly
curtsy
and move on down the line

Dance to anti-war
protest marches
dance to letter writing campaigns
dance to Yes We Can!
and to the crescendoing chorus of "Il Castrato"

Dance to no WMD?
Must be the oil!
Dance to Iraq/
Afghanistan/Haiti
But do not dance
to the dirge of America

Ignore the disappeared
Ignore the quote unquote suicides
Ignore the quote unquote accidents

Is your neighbour screaming
shut the windows

Dance around the truth
as if it were on fire

'cause you want to dance
the next round

Don't you?

Janet C. Phelan

e-mail:: one_ibl@yahoo.com
Homepage:: http://www.cosmicpenguin.com/JanetPhelan/

Noahs Ark: Everything You Need to Know

Noah's Ark Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark .

ONE: Don't miss the boat.

TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat

THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark .

FOUR: Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.

FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.

SIX: Build your future on high ground.

SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.

EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.

NINE: When you're stressed, float awhile.

TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

ELEVEN: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

If Suddenly You Forget Me

If suddenly

you forget me

do not look for me,

for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,

the wind of banners

that passes through my life,

and you decide

to leave me at the shore

of the heart where I have roots,

remember that on that day,

at that hour, I shall lift my arms

and my roots will set off

to seek another land.

- Pablo Neruda

"The Second Coming"

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of "Spiritus Mundi"
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

-- William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"

Related:Related: Reading Shakespeare has dramatic effect on human brain

Anonymous Poem from Elderly Woman

What Do You See? What do you see, nurses, what do you see,
what are you thinking when you're looking at me?

A crabby old woman, not very wise, uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes.
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply when you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try?"

Who seems not to notice the things that you do, and forever is losing a stocking or shoe.

Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will with bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still, as I use at your bidding, as I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of ten with a father and mother, brothers and sisters, who love one another.
A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet, dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.

A bride soon at twenty-my heart gives a leap, remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now, I have young of my own who need me to guide and a secure happy home.

A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast, bound to each other with ties that should last.

At forty my young sons have grown and are gone, but my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.

At fifty once more babies play round my knee, again we know children, my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.....

For my young are all rearing young of their own,
and I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman and nature is cruel;
'tis jest to make old age look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles, grace and vigour depart,
there is now a stone where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
and now and again my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
and I'm loving and living life over again.

I think of the years; all too few, gone too fast,
and accept the stark fact that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
not a crabby old woman; look closer - see ME!!

Anonymous.

This anonymous poem has been attributed to several sources. It is generally described as having been found among the possessions of an older woman who died in a geriatric ward of a hospital.

"A Lily or a Rose? Which flower do I give?"

"A Lily or a Rose?
Which flower do I give?
I can't really decide,
So I only wish you to live.

A Lily or a Rose?
White isn't always pure,
Does red always mean blood?
Such raging emotions with no cure.

A Lily or a Rose?
A hard decision to make.
I couldn't do it,
So a Lily and a Rose I'll take.

A Lily or a Rose,
Such a sweet question of the heart.
I guess I'd want to make a new flower,
One that shows all the emotions and how you've been hurt.

A Lily or a Rose.
Neither is what I say,
For neither one is needed,
As long as you live another day."

By, Saddened Laughter.

The Past is the Past

If your past has not been good, then don't dwell on it, nor bring it up in conversation nor think about it.
Leave the past in the past.

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ... Philippians 3:13

The Face

I am the face of abuse
I hold the scares
Seen and unseen
I am the child
With innocence stolen
I am the young girl
That trusted wrongly
I am the woman
That chose poorly
Then suffered greatly
I am the voice
That cries out
In the darkness
I am the personality
Shattered and robed
Yes I am the face of abuse
That found the strength
To become a survivor
Red 3-11-07

The Rain People

The Rain People

The Rain People are you and me and all people
immersed in the human frailty of emotionalism.

The Rain People are the drops of substance on
your window, your windshield when it rains.

The Rain People are those drops of water that dance
so closely, but afraid to touch and are so weak in
the abyss of love, for should they make
one mistake in love, and cry!........ they wash
themselves away and dissolve, becoming a vast
sheet of nothingness............ to love no more!

by poetry byWilly Art by The Peter Jones Studio and Gallery

A Poem for Guardians: by Janet Phelan

Buy low
Sell high
Get rich
You still die

Kill the old
Rob their breath
Stuff your pockets
With your Second Death

Kill the old
Kill their young
Kill the song
Before it's sung

Burn the fields
Poison the well
Stick your profits
In your bank in Hell

There's a snake in the garden
There's a snake in your bed
There's a snake in your mirror
There's a snake in your head

It's a beautiful planet
So rich and green
And the Angel of God
Is nowhere to be seen

It's here for the taking
And when the day is through
It's all about money
And it's all about you

Janet Phelan

Slow Dance

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's
erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the
fading night?
You better slow down don't
dance so fast
Time is short the music won't
last
Do you run through each day
on the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done do you lie
in your bed
with the next hundred chores
running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short the music won't
last
Ever told your child, We'll do
it tomorrow?
And in your haste, Not see
his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, Let a good
friendship die?
Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi'
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short the music won't
last
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there
When you worry and hurry through your
day
It is like an unopened gift....
thrown away.
Life is not a race
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

This is a poem written by a teenager with cancer. She wants to see how many people get her poem. It is quite the poem Please pass it on. She is a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital. It was sent by a medical doctor -

O Captain! My Captain! -

Walt Whitman (1819?1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather?d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up?for you the flag is flung?for you the bugle trills;

For you bouquets and ribbon?d wreaths?for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck
You?ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor?d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Remember My Name

By AUSTIN CUNNINGHAM

"My story must be told,

Must remain in constant memory

So my daughters won't cry my tears,

Or follow my tortured legacy ...

Love ain't a tricky thing if it's coming

From a healthy place ...

Maybe I should have loved him a little less ...

Maybe I should have not believed he'd

Never hit me again;

All those maybes will not bring me back again."

That's a prose poem by a dying woman and I've taken liberties in compressing the words of a final victim of domestic violence -- repetitive, relentless, domestic violence, a war between the sexes. We're aware of its presence, going on behind those walls we walk by, drive by every day. Maybe we're tired of hearing about it, bored by it because of its propinquity (nearness). Behind expensive walls but mostly behind dirty, littered walls. It's as old as Genesis but as current as the next 15 minutes, a strong body beating on a weaker body with fists, furniture, whatever's handy. The reasons are multiple, no single pattern. A man (most often) with the self control of a child. In his mindless fury taking his revenge on adults like those others who may have abused him when he was weak, helpless and tiny.

Elder Abuse is Everyones Problem:

Excerpt from Paradise Costs



A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.



?What food might it contain?? the mouse wondered.

He became frightened and devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.



Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning to all: ?There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!?



The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head, and said, ?Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.?



The mouse scurried to the pig and told him, ?There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!?



The pig sympathized, but said, ?I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it. I?d be very careful if I were you, but it?s no threat to me.?



The mouse turned to the cow and said, ?There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!?



The cow sighed and said, ?Wow, Mr. Mouse. I?m sorry for you, but it?s no skin off my nose.?



So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer?s mousetrap alone.



That very night, a sound was heard throughout the house the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.



The farmer?s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was

a venomous snake whose tail had caught the trap.



The snake bit the farmer?s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.



Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup?s main ingredient: chicken.



But his wife?s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. to feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.



The farmer?s wife did not get well; she died. Many people came to her funeral to share the farmer?s pain. To provide enough food for all of the mourners, the farmer slaughtered the cow.



The mouse looked out on it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness. All of his barnyard friends were gone, and he was all alone.



He sniffled and choked back tears, thinking, ?I tried so hard to warn them, and they wouldn?t listen.?



Perhaps next time you hear someone is facing a problem And, you think it doesn?t concern you, you?ll remember:



When one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

Lao Tsu

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

What Depression Takes Away- Poetry-

What Depression Takes Away

Bright eyes, Smiling face, Where have they gone?
It left no trace.
Uninhabited holes, A smile never true,
You wouldn't believe it,
Unless it were you.

Every day is a struggle. Each new breath is more painful than the last.
Your body, every single muscle, bone, tissue and vessel aches for freedom. Freedom from this nightmare.

Pain comes with every movement. Just forcing yourself up from your never restful slumber hurts your being, your very existence.

Words seem like never ending stories.

Each word has to be painfully processed, through the worn down passages of your mind.

When is finally reaches the end, you have somehow passed by all the other words.

Leaving you with a fragment of the story - never to be re-told.

by : A Lily Or A Rose?

Tears Are Like Raindrops

Michael writes on 12-16-2007:

Tears like raindrops

tears like raindrops
fill my face
memories of unspeakable
acts done to me

the pleasent times
are lost among the
thorns and prickers
that poke and scrape me

Tears fill my face
like raindrops
as they fall in
the here and now

a place I rarely
stayed, but now
it is safe enough
to wonder freely

Tears like raindrops
dried on my face
as I look out my
window and see today

Michael Joseph

Que Sera, Sera

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother
What will I be?
Will I be pretty?
Will I be rich?
Here's what she said to me:

Que sera, sera.
Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.
What will be, will be.

When I grew up and fell in love
I asked my sweetheart
What lies ahead?
Will we have rainbows
Day after day?
Here's what my sweetheart said:

Que sera, sera.
Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.
What will be, will be.

Now I have children of my own.
They ask their mother,
What will I be?
Will I be handsome?
Will I be rich?
I tell them tenderly:

Que sera, sera.
Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.
What will be, will be.
Que sera, sera.

posted by Kathleen Riley

Awaken Your Creativity Come and Ride the 'Haiku" Train

Ray said...

A train my life is

On the rails of time

Never knowing when or why

The last stop will be....

Fledgling Poet said...

The last stop will be

When the tracks end suddenly

Stop and breathe the view....

The Two Wolves: A Cherokee Story About Native Wisdom.

Courtesy of Sonia Revised from 5-12-07

"THE TWO WOLVES": A CHEROKEE?S STORY ABOUT NATIVE WISDOM.-

I read this story for the first time a few years ago on True Nature, Jenny?s blog, and now I want to share with you all this amazing Native Wisdom?s Story.
..........
A Grandfather from the Cherokee Nation was talking with his grandson.

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy."It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves."

"One wolf is evil and ugly: He is anger, envy, war, greed, self-pity, sorrow, regret, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, selfishness and arrogance."

"The other wolf is beautiful and good: He is friendly, joyful, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, justice, fairness, empathy, generosity, true, compassion, gratitude, and deep VISION."

"This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other human as well.

"The grandson paused in deep reflection because of what his grandfather had just said.

Then he finally cried out; "Oyee! Grandfather, which wolf will win?"

The elder Cherokee replied, "The wolf that you feed."

Click to see Cherokee's Words of Wisdom
Click to see The Wolf Den Homepage pictures, facts, resources
Click to see Cherokee Home Page
Click to see Cherokee Culture and History Links
Click to hear Cherokee Songs in MP3 Format