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Nat Lipstadt Jul 2017
the sign on the railway station says "Common Destination,"
the ties of our tracks are uniform, creosote covered, splintered,
spaced uniformly as is the wont of the arm-in-arm soldiers,
different regiments in the same army, though as they march,
some on the high, some the low road, in defense of the values,
right, right, right.

no believing in forever land, dreamt of poems forever burning,
real life farenheit bonfires lit by brown uniforms and such, thus,
now, when a poem completed and shared, 
it is instantly disfigured,
by flames harnessed to lick
the slate page clean, immediately, 
presenting yet  another opportunity,
to protest, persistently,
endless be my own turnkey hands renewing,
my write to right.

my write to right,
my pupose; my only intent, even in love poems,
ogdiddy witty ditties, long dialogues with the creator, all purposed,
all written while standing one on left foot, are we not all
poets of the ways to increase the sum total of
righteous and kindness in the world.

'tis right to write,
but go further and farther,
write to right.

to ease, comfort, shoulder and hand extensions, be the lean-to,
the shelter when there is no shelter, for there is no
owning words, and no limitation on clear vision and
the right to write.
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/2022913/the-right-to-write/

The Right To Write
Who remembers the greats,,historians and stars of stage and screen when their lights are extinguished.
All their import diminished in the scheme of things.
What lasts and why do we care when our history is wiped out or rewritten.
Each generation smitten with laying down rules, only to have them overthrown,
a mere stone thrown in an ocean of white noise.
Do we stand poised on the edge, or out on a ledge?.
I shed my own light on a page, waging a war on the world,
a stray curl twisted in deepest thought brings thought unsought,
and soon I'm caught up in a snare.
Who will care if writing becomes restricted
as predicted, the same with books they want them burned
and poetry spurned in an attempt to **** thought?
Who will lead the drive to reach the stars,
and climb the stair to who knows where?
Will our pathway be light or dark, is this our future or merely a lark?  How blighted would life be without written word,
imagination kicked to the curb?
The hell with the planets the moon and the stars
belt out your song in just eight bars,
write your fate on a forbidden page'
sage thoughts in rhyme perhaps in double times
rewinding our history, for one more adept
where the orators spoke and the audiences wept  
when anthems sung rang out so proud
we all stood up and sang aloud in joyful praise
the patriotism of saner days.  
Now all is chaos and we're the pawns
as darkness falls on priceless dawns
no paper, no ink, no sky of pink
no endless tale, no hope at all
the poets all crumble into a heap,
perhaps to sleep an endless sleep.  
Yet days will come when an errant breeze
will stir the cobwebs in the trees
and willful minds will start to think
and shuttered eyes begin to blink
then thoughts will stir with magic flair
until a word appears, then another
and another spinning endless spheres.  
Then up it rises from grave and ground
a surging of an endless sound
one can hear it all around.  
Rhythm and rhyme line after line
sung to a tune in three quarter time  
until people once again take pen in hand
and let their emotion and thought expand.
Perhaps poetry is our forever land
a turnkey that debunks future histories?
Never cease and desist always resist
and persist. insisting on our right to write
be it day or be it night, in war or peace, the least
amongst us has the right, the staid and true or the
fly by night.  Write on my friends and take thee heed
thank God we're such a persistent breed.
Nat Lipstadt Jul 2017
From time to time in the years to come,
I hope you will be treated unfairly,
so that you will come to know the value of justice.

I hope that you will suffer betrayal
because that will teach you the importance of loyalty.

Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time
so that you don’t take friends for granted.

I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.

And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship.

I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance
of listening to others, and I hope you will have just
enough pain to learn compassion.

Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts
speaking at his son’s middle-school graduation, June 3:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/notable-quotable-john-roberts-addresses-middle-school-grads-1499462269
Nat Lipstadt Jul 2017
asked the gathered dancers of the choreographer?

This was back in the 70's,
when we naively thought the revolution had been won,
and a gay black man could walk the streets of
NYC
holding hands with his  
white jewish partner

The choreographer,
a gay black man,
pauses before answering
considering
what he believed,
and what he knew to be reality.

"How much freedom can you afford?
How much freedom are you willing
to die for?"


 In the days
when men thought freedom was everywhere just for the taking,
freedom for
daring to just be,
meant
new wars on new days.

The choreographer was/is
Bill T. Jones.  
He related this story to me tonight.

<•>

wikipedia.org/wiki/BillT.Jones
Nat Lipstadt Jul 2017
Sad,
but even surrounded
by my kids,
wonder what century this is.
where did my world go
all the values I once knew,
I'm sure I instilled them.
I'm out of touch I'm told,
I guess I am since women
now-a-days don't
work, cook, clean, Iron, *** I iron,
I'm patriotic, and I pray,
believe in meals on the table.
Yep I cook from scratch
not something boxed
that gets delivered daily.
Dayummmmmm
I am out of touch.
But it sure feels good
being able to
fend for myself,
able to cope,
with what the hell
ever is thrown at me.
Yep, I'm out of touch
with some of the
crap they watch on tv
Their reality is
not my reality.
passing the tissues.  
hugs
Patty m

•<>•

we wince inside,
more than smile,
when we venture outside,
outside being anywhere
our eyes take us

the simple notion we carried,
the simple notion given us,
see me, watch me, learn from me,
be like me, for my model is
a not-so-bad one, even if the
styling is so retro,
with its yes ma'am, no ma'am,
can I help you with that sir,
and with a wave and a smile,
let them go in front, cut in,
even though our time is far not, closer shorter,
and hurry is not in the
top ten list of our commandments

be not wistful,
or
unforgiving,
from your window
you can see a green land, well endowed,
where speech freedom yet lives,
not a half bad achievement

perhaps we did not suckle them perfect,
for they are and err in contented
perfect surety
intolerance of anything but newer ways,
that too oft are the discards
of older ideas born of a
disproved arrogant new math
of selfie-righteousness


but let us no croak too much
like old people croaked about us

for we both fear for them,
far more than we silent chide,
the days to come seem so fraught
with excesses we tolerated

wonder if
they will be forced to buy their manufactured water in masticated plastic,
drinking tap water a dangerous high, or food of any kind be plenty after
seven decades of famine

wonder if
they will work for the robots,
those labor saving devices that will
steal the honor of labor, the dignity of a paycheck's message, the honor of rising early to work

wonder if
the madmen we tolerated,
that we chose to ignore,
will return to them
a racked and ruined world

wonder if
they will recall, renember
the kindness of soft spokeness,
the tolerance for a well reasoned argument
and be open to the bounty of
thoughtful persuasion
and the relief in and of
hope

wonder if I despair?
do not!
for daily they come here,
where good word's rule,
tender their fears,
leaving behind the arrogance
perhaps reading these,
even these words
and realize that the good we have the good we struggled to bequeath,
was born from
good struggle,
in more struggle,
is the only way to be
less afraid

nattyman
July 6th
4:55 am
Patty srnds me a message which inspires, as much poem as message.
I take it abd write a counterpoint, contrapunto, or a contrepoint

She never knows when I am hatching this "duo"
till it is public and ergo, the oooh's, ahhh's and dayuuums of her genuine surprise.
Nat Lipstadt Jul 2017
•<>•
the addicted pleasure words granted to we privileged few,
like every enslaved soul to the mind, which I am, I am,
evening dreams, midnight thinkings, sunrise seeings,
how can I infect and thus protect the young to the liberty
to love the crafted content of our human essence to better
comprehend that a moment caught on tape of our shared
words is a holiday, a celebration for the ages,
scar of pleasure, a forehead Cain mark, scarlet letter of pride,
for this reliving of our stories retelling is the skipped beat
of our connection not born from practical reason,
but from truths we own equally and though reason says
mine, it is not, it is only to be yours when the sharing
resonates resonates resonates resonates resonates
and every molecule, becomes a human tuning fork
in concert, in pitch identical, in blood tainted with
the simplicity of we are all the same, only words, this will transmit


                                          July 4th, 2017
                                                •<>•

"If you spend enough time reading or writing, you find a voice, but you also find certain tastes. You find certain writers who when they write, it makes your own brain voice like a tuning fork, and you just resonate with them. And when that happens, reading those writers … becomes a source of unbelievable joy. It’s like eating candy for the soul."
And I sometimes have a hard time understanding how people who don’t have that in their lives make it through the day.
David Foster Wallace
July 4th 2017 10:45am
Shelter Island
  Jul 2017 Nat Lipstadt
onlylovepoetry
only a ******* man could love a ******* poodle

everybody knows poodle one of the smartest breeds,
not exactly a manly man's dog, but great to have around to feed,
feed you, when alone, and you need a good conversation

had me a good woman

she would say:
"hon, kindly fetch me this and that,"

**** dog would get her whatever she wanted,
me, didn't mind at all, loved taking care of her,
but the dog loved her more and be there and back
before I could jack my feet off the couch

she would say:
"hon,  come near, give me a
nuzzle and a kiss, a  cuddle and a lick"

**** dog, double quick, cause it spoke better human than most,
was in her lap burying her laughing with affection infectious,
before I could jack my feet off the couch

she would say:
"honey love, meet me bed upstairs,
love me sweet and complete,
when done, please love me
over again twice as nice"

**** dog hearing the sacred holy word *bed

was up there in a flash, howling "what's taking youse guys so long,"
tail impatient drumming up a rock n' roll storm,
while we slow pokey, taking our own sweetest time,
humans messing around first with a little downtown downstairs,
prefatory, preparatory work,
both our feet lazy still on the couch kissing the cold away

when we got to our destiny destination, had to kick that
**** ******* foggy doggy outside, close the door,
say no more, **** dog did whine and cry like a baby chile,
till we couldn't take it no more and let that **** dog in

she would say:
"lover man, I love you better than twice I thought I could
ever love another, cause you two idiots two-gether make me
sweeter and completer than I ever knew I could be happier"

like I said, only a ******* man could love a *
******* poodle
p.s. ******* poodle also ain't a half bad poet neither,
known to some by his human name,
only doggy love poetry

8:30am July twooth
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