I’ll be home soon
I’ve been on this trip for a while now I know
Longer this time then last time that’s for sure
But I promise Chuck I haven’t forgotten where I live
I just can’t imagine myself there right now
I must disappoint you greatly
Out here in space dodging asteroids and avoiding life
Some days it all feels like progress
Other nights it feels like shame
I know what you’re gonna say but Chuck I tried
Well, I mean, I thought really hard about trying
And I can still see my son’s lighthouse on the kitchen table
I could get home if I really really really needed to
I’m sure of it
Listen I’m not some lost cause
Left drifting through galaxies with no hope of return
I’m E.T. and I know where the pay phone is
It’s just I’m not done up here
I’ve got more to find and more to see and more to discover
Sure Chuck, I’ll prove it
Home, it’s right there
Past that nebula and through that asteroid belt and around that comet
See
See
I could’ve sworn it was right there just yesterday
Where’d it go
Oh **** Chuck
Now what

Won’t the real Charlie please stand up
And put one of those pencils in each hand up

Je suis Charlie too, but Charlie bit me
And for that they rip me
They want to get rid of me

But I’m not them
And they’re not us
But we’re all one
So don’t count up

Put those hands down
We don’t need to see another case of Michael Brown
Yes, protest
But protest with peace
And take the jobs of those you wish you could leash

Give emotions rest
Love is the best defense

How did I get here from where I was before,
A little weekend dabble and never wanted more,
I cannot become addicted, too good for that I'm sure,
But looking back I underestimated the power and the lure,
Half a packet here and there become 1 or 2 a week,
The lure of the white powder, I start becoming weak,
Sneaky packets in the day, trying to conceal,
Then when caught, convincing people that it's no big deal,
Lying to your loved ones, lying all day long,
Hiding from everyone and singing the paranoia song,
Once I pop I cannot stop till all the powder goes,
Doesn't seem to matter that I can't smell through my nose,
Nobody understands me or what I'm going through,
To them they think it's just a joke and don't believe it's true,
But I can confirm I'm an addict and I want you all to know,
And help me get away from this evil pure white snow,
I want to stop, I want it gone, I want it out my life,
I want to be a decent Dad and have a loving wife,
******* has been so evil and sneaky in its way,
Never think that you are too good to be lead astray,
Addiction is for junkies and skanks I used to spout,
Now I realise I didn't know what I was talking about,
I've nearly lost all I love and never felt so low,
I really need you to go *******, you really have to go.

When our system finally is done
I am traveling through the sun
Painting my body to destruction
But then there are a new system in construction
Seeing the world in a new light
Have to keep up in a hard fight
We settle down under the new orders
Trying to find safe behind friendly borders
Bombs and worriors are hidden everywhere
The enemy does not even care
About the cruel way of killing people of innocence
Now we must live under barbaric violence
Now it's always just jihad in da house
And then I die like a weak mouse

Comes to pass my picture of the Middle East
(one minute and twenty one seconds of television news,
          much less than I had thought)
is an inaccurate representation of people
and the individuality of their experience.

How does one measure the merit of
I am offended?

If all I know are snapshots, misdirecting
the issue, changing path to digest murdered cartoonists
killed with Allah in mind
          (another misdirection)
and I am not outraged.

Sadness manifests as thick fog
blocking artificial light, splitting the rays,
opening up and flexing, the truth as is,
the sole truth we must attain;
          we are slow, dying creatures.
Inborn freedoms dissolve.

Did Salman Rushdie beg forgiveness for
images of his head book-ending a spear,
or did he die a little in secret?

Suppose I am a rouser marching the streets of
New York City, a gold pendant of two
          falling towers adorning
my chest-cave, Je Suis etched into my forehead
(black felt-tip).

Do you defend me?
Relish in your torment of words?

Will you bury the fire in your belly
for sake of freedom?

beholding
the tipping
Big Dipper,
with its
dangling
handle,
traverse a
midwinter
northern sky
rising
in concert
with a
steadfast
sword
wielding
Orion,
mooring
the southern
firmament,
I stand
atop a
splotch
of black
macadam,
straddling the
equidistant
expanse of
all
ascending
celestial
spheres

Music Selection
Charlie Parker
Estrellita

Oakland
1/23/15
jbm

Irresponsible behaviors.
Civility of civilised on test.
Much arrogance and pride.
In extremes who's the best?

Insensitive to alien customs.
Insensitive to other's belief.
Then why teach tolerance?
Kindly explain, please debrief.

**** anti-Semitic cartoons!
Didn't it led to Death Camps.
Can we call this Freedom.
Ask yourselves, O Champs!

I am Charlie! I am Charlie!
The echoing words I hear.
I am Kouchi! I am Kouchi!
Might be heard I fear.