The title comes from the song SCARBOROUGH FAIR by Simon and Garfunkel. This one line has inspired me to write this poem. Isn't that what Generals do, "order their soldiers to ****?" And that's what soldiers do, as well as being killed, as happens to too many of them. Why don't Generals (who are themselves rarely killed) order their soldiers to love, to put down their weapons and find another human being and give that human being a hug. Maybe even break bread with their fellow member of the human race. Killing each other is insane. We no longer have to use high-powered military weapons to **** our distant relatives. Some crazy ******* (e.g. **** Trump) may accidentally, or on purpose, drop a hydrogen bomb on a city, let's say, and in so doing, **** all of humanity in short order. Nations are anachronistic anyway;  catastrophic climate change, which threatens to **** all living creations on Earth, tells us we are all in this together. There are no national, political boundaries to keep us from possibly dying of the coronavirus pandemic. The Arctic and Anarctic glaciers that are melting as I compose this poem are oblivious to national, political boundaries. So are the toxic fumes that oil-using nations spew into the air that all living creatures eventually breathe and, in time, die from doing so. Why do we need Generals ordering their soldiers to **** when presidents and dictators are doing a far better job of killing than Generals ever could? I myself prefer a hug to a hydrogen bomb.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

You don't get it, do you? You still think your money
is your merit, your mansion is high fashion, your limousine
the only car you'll never have to drive , your wife only a
trophy. These falsehoods are like thick pieces of prime rib;  
you suffer from emotional and physical gout. I shout, but
you don't hear me. You are spiritually deaf. Your worth is
deep within you, but buried by layers and layers of fat
and fatuous values. At the Country Club, you are not
bothered by blacks and latinos and Jews. Your only tenet
is to keep your left arm straight. You consecrate Red Label
instead of red wine. You cheat when playing poker, but it's
OK because no one notices. You take a shower, but use
no soap. What the ****! Who cares? I am above all
others! I'll take a Mulligan on that last shot. Boy, get
me another ball!

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

In Plato's description of Socrates' "Apologia," he describes the latter's defense during the trial of Socrates. Socrates says he is the wisest because he knows nothing about anything, an astute defense. Nonetheless, he is found guilty and sentenced to death. Socrates receives this sentence with equanimity.

In contrast, **** Trump, like Socrates, knows nothing about anything, but unlike Socrates, **** Trump is so ignorant that he is not conscious of his stupidity;  rather, he thinks he knows everything about everything, which not only tells you how deluded he is, at best, but also shows you what an existential threat he is to our nation, and indeed, to the entire world.

I wish Plato were still alive so he could record **** Trump's lunacy. But we still have The New York Times and The Washington Post.

What a Greek tragedy we are living through! But where is the deus ex machina?

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Sleep, my child, sleep.

Let love be your blanket and keep you warm and safe.
Dream dreams that color your mind with coruscating joys,
abundant pleasures, everlasting happiness. You are not only
mine, but also a child of the Cosmos, and have an infinite
number of brothers and sisters, friends of all different races
from galaxies galore. You will never be alone. You will be
befriended for eternity. The speed of love is even faster
than the speed of light.

Sleep, my child, sleep.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Those who remain silent in a democracy are complicit in its destruction.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

I have just finished reading many of my poems.
I do not do this often, but when I do, I am amazed
at their singular beauty, their eloquence, their exquisite
insights. You may think me solipsistic, self-centered,
egotistical. Go ahead. I don't mind. Actually, I
don't care what you or anyone else thinks. But
I do care what I think, because every poem I
have ever written is a real part of me, and if I am
not real, I am false to myself and to the Cosmos,
my ultimate anathema. So many of us believe that
what matters is not truth, but the antithesis thereof.
So many actors and writers and artists and poets
care only that others applaud them, award them
prizes that, for them, validate their creations, their
performances, their poems, and their paintings.
Sadly, these are all collectively grand illusions.
Hemingway wins the Nobel prize, then later
shoots himself dead in Ketchum, Idaho. I have
written that "the poem is the prize," because I
think and feel and believe that is truth. There
will be no opulent ceremonies for me in Oslo,
no Pulitzer Prizes, just as there were none for
William Blake and Walt Whitman and Emily
Dickinson. But each wrote their truths that,
in time, others finally discovered, and while
their poems won no prizes, they became increa-
singly beloved and embraced and treasured.
Truth is the most precious gift you can ever
give to anyone, to everyone. Truth alone is
immortal. Give it to the Cosmos.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Four letters, one syllable, one Truth. LOVE. Until we come to understand,
to feel, to embrace, to become LOVE, we shall remain in the Dark Ages.
We shall continue to war against each other, to **** each other, to torture each
other, to hate each other, to abuse each other, to discriminate against others.
LOVE is not only the only way out of this hellhole, it is humankind's destiny.
We must first be able to LOVE ourselves to be able to LOVE others. Those who have been loved must begin to LOVE all others. The good news is that once loving becomes the new paradigm, replacing false notions of our worth being "rich and richer," LOVE will spread around the world like a divine virus not killing, but healing. And as LOVE heals us, it will heal Earth. LOVE will finally be realized for what it always has been, the one Truth.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks