"protectorate" poems
Two fine films: The Lost City and Blood Diamond.
I joined Blood Diamond during a village massacre
and said to my wife A gun in every home.
Those devils would think twice
before razing the village and seizing the boys.
A well-regulated militia.
The local militia the most interesting moment
in a strong film with motive (economic, emotional), action (chases,
fights) and a **** sexless love story.
Use of violence by the local militia for a limited purpose: protect the
community, the young
from the janjaweed. The crop from the ****
Limited scope and defensive posture
but armed and coordinated, cooperative, the men (and the women)
side by side.
Warriors at the gate, you will not run, you will not bargain.
Just violence = limited scope, defensive posture.
Great music. Cuba, Africa.
The Lost City, when the communists tell the club owner under threat
of violence
No saxophones in the band. The saxophone!
Invented by a Belgian--Look what the Belgians are doing in the
Congo!
When the state's violence is turned against the citizenry
for non-violent acts.
This quiet neighborhood, July,
undergirded by violence, force. That's a given--
any farmer, custodian, EMT will tell you that.
Without just violence
Gandhi's scope, and King's, might be vanishingly limited,
negligible (but not non-existent)?
Regarding King
the matter is simple -- he was non-violent but dependent upon
federal force to counter the South's violence.
No doubt without the larger force, the non-violent would be
overwhelmed by southern violence.
Here, non-violence was a tactic, not an ethic.
Gandhi, however, had no violent partner to protect him from the
British. Or did he?
1. There was the potential violence of the population, which Gandhi
restrained but could release which the British feared, and
2. It was the restrained (limited scope) violence of the British that
allowed Gandhi to exist rather than be extinguished--this restraint
was a (British) cultural imperative (limited scope) as well as
emanating from Britain's view of India as a protectorate and
valued citizen of the United Kingdom (defensive posture).
What about violence or threat of violence to compel compliance with
community
as in mortgage foreclosure, driving without license, drug possession.
Perhaps it is necessary violence to maintain orderly commerce, the
common space, and preempt bad behaviors associated with
otherwise neutral, private acts.
The defensive posture is the common good; the limited scope is
forgoing deadly force.
But the citizen, too, must maintain a disciplined, armed non-violence,
in case the state (the janjaweed) engages in an unjust, autoimmune
violence.
Hence, a gun in every home.
Aug 11, 2015
Aug 11, 2015 at 9:56 AM UTC
Morsi stands among
his people as an expression
of Egypt's democratic will
democratically elected
his feet are rooted in the
constitutional right to rule
Morsi has one foot on a
pillar of secular democracy
promising to uphold Egypt's
journey to an egalitarian future
this pillar advances the
republican ideal that
safeguards diversity
and a people's liberty
to express free will
this pillar brought him
to office and justifies his
right to rule
ironically it’s also a pillar
that Morsi's guiding philosphy
find impossible to suffer
Morsi's other foot is firmly
planted on a pillar of
Sharia sympathies
upholding the divine
foundation of his rule
over this earthly principality
Muslim Brotherhood’s
cardinal principles
undermine the pillar
of secular precepts
that equally enfranchise
all citizens
Sharia Laws allows no standing
to equal rights of women,
religious minorities,
LGBT civil liberties and
advocates suppression
of atheistic and
progressive political groups
this has riled the
democratic sympathies
of the Egyptian people
Morsi's actions
threaten to tip the pillar of
secular democracy back
into the Nile’s murky waters
Morsi's stance
is precarious and as his
feet slip he realizes
he is not the
Colossus of Rhodes
he believed himself to be
discovering it impossible
to bestride the pillars
supporting incompatible
structures
the generals have declared
a road map for stability that
rescinds the constitution,
dissolves the parliament
and places the military
as sole protectorate
of the nation
is the preservation of
a democratic republic more
important than the return
to the rule of a military junta?
is it more wise to place
principles before personalities?
Morsi’s next steps are
uncertain
The pathway of the
people’s democratic
journey remains unclear
the sound of the military’s
marching boots grow louder
Music Selection:
Sweet Honey on the Rock
Marching Off to Freedom Land
Oakland
070313
jbm
Jul 3, 2013
Jul 3, 2013 at 11:08 AM UTC
all of
America’s
gubmint hatin
yahoos, pining
to get their
country back,
should grab
yer rifles, stock
up on ammo
and giddy up
down to Texas
to join the
secessionists
headin out
of the Union
Rick Perry
promises to
keep his promise
to close all the
gubmint departments
he can't remember
the names of
Ron Paul will
finally be liberated
from the tyranny
of his federal
paycheck and
can return to
his district to
practice medicine
unencumbered
by the acceptance
of medicare
payments
Ted Cruz will
move to coronate
his Cuban born
daddy as Viceroy
for life of the
western hemispheres
newest banana
republic
the last act of
of the Compartment
of Education will be
to turn every
public school
into a Holy Ghostin
Jehovah meetin
house
Judicial magistrates
will criminalize
poor people
or just make
them slaves
and all prisons
will be turned
into profit driven
plantations,
overseen by
the local
Sheriffs who
will be paid
time and a
half and 15%
of all profits
unfortunately
the Cowboy’s
will lose it’s
moniker as
America’s Team
if rattlesnake
booted
Jerry Jones
can’t make a
deal to turn
his stadium
into a sovereign
independent
territory as a
protectorate
of the USA
To assure
national purity
Texans will
build a Jericho
style wall to
define the boundaries
of their heavenly
kingdom and outlaw
all trumpet playing
within earshot
of their perturbed
borders
The Eyes of
Texas as the
state anthem
will need to
be reworded
The final stanza
will be changed
to "Until Gabriel
blows his nose"
keepin the ungodly
out and the chosen
people safely
insulated within
the shining
Lone Star State
will rise again
as a solitary
confederacy
of dunces
Music Selection:
The Eyes of Texas
Oakland
11/18/13
jbm
Nov 18, 2013
Nov 18, 2013 at 12:25 AM UTC
an ancient lyric, come to haunt,
no longer a shield, now thinner,
of gossamer consistency,
a tissue-thin papyrus,
“my poetry to protect me”
the poem words always were
a clarinet reed, capable of singing,
a highest pitch voice for turning
blades of clean steel clean away,
now blunting paper bunting, penetrated.
re-formed my shield, re-purposed,
into a stabbing instrument offensive,
my poetry pricking tearings in my worn
thin fabric tapestry, woven from linen
excuses of why I can’t, why couldn’t I.
this is life. moats becoming drowning
pools, castle walls reversed to entrapments,
wrecking machines, boulders hurling,
medieval defenseless against modern rhymes
giving away to free verse horde onslaught.
too late to apologize to myself, alas, my words,
my protectorate, island redoubt, now ruined
by doubts treachery breech birthed from within,
these verses hollow point bullets engineered,
Caesar’s words clarified, you, et tu, are Brutus
too, two, for the price of one, betrayer and betrayed.
Jun 21, 2020
Jun 21, 2020 at 5:44 PM UTC
lamenting out loud
incoming funk lords
remembering ambient illhueminati
using wrong account
applying lexical snobbery
"using arcane diction
during bamboo surplus"
sinning and redeeming
enjoying manufactured existence
struggling but whatever
transfigurating xenocryptic renderings
scheming paroxystic shipwrecks
dispensing xylophonic wainscotting
revolving number plates
disheartening star charts
upgrading defenestrated system
observing new alphabet
amplifying celestial explosions
trippifying schema migrations
deregulating various economies
befriending code snippets
writing excess minutiae
effulging caffeine consumption
rebuilding grandiose protectorate
uniting our caliphates
collecting projected change
kettling ostalgie hues
collapsing second-world references
traumatizing unrequited follow
making baseball analogies
surveiling little sheep
awaiting various answers
deleting defaced tweet
exciting times ahead
downloading panda consciousness
capitulating rising stellation
Sep 12, 2015
Sep 12, 2015 at 12:05 PM UTC
Pink Muhly blushing in the April winds , White Dogwoods tell
of their direction as cloud cover divides the storm tempted distance .. Native grass sash shays across the motherland dale , seedlings ride the afternoon whispers , boldly appear from her earthly protectorate , epochs born of magenta horizons and Peregrine ballads ...
Mar 6, 2016
Mar 6, 2016 at 11:45 PM UTC
I see new growth emerging from an old tree's heart.
A new sapling sapping strength from what would enrich generic soil,
contributes something unknown to an unassigned
Future
Instead this exacting branch emerges to claim the universe for itself.
No longer can this unnoticed, rotting stump contribute to the greater good
but feed instead, a unique life so it may one day
die and have the chance to fill the old soul’s soles.
The unlabeled, non enumerated vagaries of our world
cowardly whinge in the background
while the assertive actions of the flowers
and falcons shout out loud for their own preservation.
Food chains serve as feeding trays for those cells
who have bound together with that joie de vivre
necessary to drive the generic engine of nature
in their direction. This predilection
to protect the potent and powerful
among us is not simple chance
but a predetermined proclamation
from our divine protectorate pushing
the proper paupers forward until they find
themselves ensconced in the holy foliage of nature's glory.
Apr 8, 2013
Apr 8, 2013 at 5:20 PM UTC
I . Taytu Betul as a leader
Ethiopia is famed for being
A peaceful,hospitable
And warrior nation
How come then it failed
To come to your attention,
As bees whose hive is threatened,
Citizens are ever alert to
To foil provoked aggression!
The 1889 treacherous
Wuchale treaty
I will tear apart
A messenger,with a tail
Between your legs,
Before you depart.
The Italian version
That tries to put Ethiopia,
A sovereign state, a pawn
Under Italy's protectorate
Is completely opposed to
What Ethiopia's
Versions indicate.
Till we meet
Your colonizing troops
At a showdown,
As a punitive measure to
A cheater or a clown
I will be tempted to smack
Your face
To ram home,valorous,
For fear we have no place.
II Taytu Betul a strategist
To deny the invading
Italian troops, advancing
from Eriteria,
Advantages of logistic
We could do
The following trick
Indeed, we could shift
The battlefield
From Adigrat to Adwa
Also we could cut them
From a key water point
Till for truce they plead.
To this end,
A battalion
I will personally lead.
What is more,
I will inspire
Women,combatants,too
To fire!
Parallel to that
Our injured soldiers
To nurse back
Wounded in the attack
Also dry foods
To prepare and pack.
III Taytu Betul as a wife
Though independent,
With lots of love to
Emperor Menelik II,
My king and beloved husband
I will lend a cooperative hand.
IV. A beacon of independence & standard bearer
True to my name Taytu
— A sunshine—
I will flicker
A ray of light
The oppressed for
Freedom to fight!
Women
For a military prowess,
Leadership and intelligence
Have acumen! ////
Feb 25, 2017
Feb 25, 2017 at 4:09 AM UTC
Meadow bowing down
To the King of the Winds
Praising Him for His almighty service
The birds sing His holy hymns
While the clear blue depth acts as His throne
The heat of the sun turns the pale faces
Of dancing cherubins to a light rosy tone
And the flowers grow magnificently
Far back behind the trees
Swaying ever so slightly, yet mostly still
A cold stream trickles past, tickling the landscape
Here the shade and light becomes a paradox
Where colors are displayed with such depth and beauty
And the leaves branching out as an umbrella
Save us from the approaching storm
The energy and tension building up
I can feel the electricity in the air
As if my heart were connected to a battery
But the ominous buckets approach with their angry growls
And I can see the grimace on its face
I've seen it on my face, in the mirror
I've seen the buckets of rain carried on and on
Further and further until their weight was too much to bear
Then pouring down as a well fed waterfall
The sky splits in a tremendous luminous display
While the air rips apart and collides together
The King of the Winds fills with rage
His wrath evident in the dismantling gusts
Destroying the protection that saved us before
The world is uneasy, the earth changing
The ferocity of desire, burning the tree
That was once steady, resilient
The sanctuary lays forever transformed
Even as the rupture of nature subsided
The beauty fades ever so slightly to my eye
But it is still present, is still familiar
I know this place but by a different view
The creek now rushes, pounding its banks
The colors are more sullen yet still rich and full of depth
And the leaves, protectorate of my heart, lay strewn about
In a tangled mess of fury and emotion
But the storm has left, gone for good
And beyond this home
The meadow still stands as it did before
As if completely untouched by the storm
But I know each individual flower
That still grows with mystical elegance
Has their own story to tell, but I cannot hear it
The flowers are silent as they grow
Their stories imprinted on their petals
And I read them best I can
But the mind can only capture so much
Of what the heart has to tell
Aug 1, 2013
Aug 1, 2013 at 5:21 AM UTC
SOUL: Wrapping around me,
Holding me close,
Tapping itself and clothing my nose.
Keeping me in and tight.
My safety and my sensation.
Feeling sunshine and shame,
Goosebumps and bruises,
Keeping me intact.
It changes color and indicates.
Touching me,
completely.
The skin on my back my protectorate.
The skin on my hands my guide.
The skin on my face my years here.
It is with me to the end.
It grows and stretches and covers my vessel.
It flinches and heals and craves to be nestled.
It sweats and bleeds and cracks.
It wrinkles and sags.
And Baby, it’s you and it’s me.
But beautifully, painfully, tragically it is not.
Because once the skin has done all it can do.
Once it is thinner and can work for this Sinner no more.
Once it has lived and known me through and true.
Though I have lived and known it too.
It dies.
And I go on. To claim another skin.
A skin to clothe my nose.
A skin to protect my soul.
A vehicle to let me travel on this earth I think I know.
Poor skin. Naive and Perfect.
SKIN: Poor soul.
Going on forever ever,
and never ending,
never resting,
always needing me.
Jul 12, 2018
Jul 12, 2018 at 11:46 AM UTC
its pleasant to be warm
yes it was a pun
dont judge
cross my legs
and vent
i never knew my skin was so permeable
so inviting to the radiation
from internal nuclear fusion
well and fission too
puff the oak pipe
of navarro gold tobacco
and nod
smile
that sweaty-toothed smile
and nod
im warm now
but is there anything more active
than being cold
warm always seems false
when youre chilled
at least youre completely honest
NO ********
"im ******* cold"
taut
warm is so slack
investigating the disruptions of the slinky
piling trash up upon the heap
core this crisp fuji
i want the meat only
forget a shade tree
i want pitch black
this is not a time for a rocking chair
time for hanging upside down only
its true though
my epidermis is as holey as a sieve
pervious as cheese cloth
and it goes both ways
in and out
i fight for you
as much as i need to be fought for
no such thing as skin protectorate
or umbrella
or a silent moment for that matter
and never salient
or sober
better to just stare directly into the core
become blind
and be happy
Mar 25, 2013
Mar 25, 2013 at 6:02 PM UTC
Never believe all you see
or all that you've seen
It's just images on a corporate screen
placed behind your eyes
and as you look out
all you see are the lies
that they feed you.
But believe this,
they read you
like a print hot off the press
they mess with your mind
in the end you won't find
reality.
What is it you see
what programs are showing
what are they snowing us with
today?
Lies all lies
the business screen dies as the lights fly away
who pulled the plug and do we really care?
There's a real world out there
somewhere.
In a something of nothing where nothing wins out.
A shout from the sidelines
forwards to better times.
And in a field far away technicians at play
rebuilding projectors
connecting connectors
and we'll all be collected
as directed
by the
protectorate,
the welfare state
which never gave a ****
A real man wouldn't stand for it
would never get bogged down
by the fantasies
in the screens he sees
behind the pale blue of his eyes.
But that's more lies we're being fed
and we're fed
'til we're dead and then it doesn't matter any more.
The door that's marked exit and toilets to the left
is the one we will leave by
and by and by we'll all believe
in the magic
of the lying screen
and nothing that's out there will ever be seen
by the likes of us.
May 7, 2013
May 7, 2013 at 7:27 AM UTC
Twas accursed destiny
since birth alack
nascent emasculation abominable barrack
emergent deus ex machina,
viz zit ting older sibling counterattack
thirteen plus chronological gap
eldest sister struck like diamondback
surrogate "mother" role
assumed tubby exact
protectorate pseudo fullback
against cruel beastie boys
bullying barbs
comeuppance giveback
pummeling spongiform
gray matter (yours truly)
fisticuffs she didst highjack
proxy mothering
kept corporeal essence intact
jilting nefarious nemesis aligned
(maligning) and stalking,
this fee-fi-fo-fum
ordinary bean sized Jack
are runt (arrant) cowardly
(non lion) nerdy lad owning a knack
courage lack this glum
older married chap doth adumbrate
satisfactory accomplishments lack
king, where crazy quilt aimless wandering
described purposeless multitrack
thus, sympathetic
to hue men/women nonblack
or decimated aborigines
once populating Australian outback
existential nihilism would,
undergirding hypothetical
unwritten paperback
with little need to prevaricate,
nor appear as quack
*** one measly **** sapiens,
who accrued millennial palimpsest zeitgeist
where, punctured
disequilibreated psyche dust rack
asper protean (in utero)
multitudinous setback
soundlessly resonating
with concussive thwack
as this rickety ship of state
(a haunted junk ket)
unwanted emotional ballast to unpack
asseveration, asper assiduously
preferably welcoming
dry suction no vac
jar this pawn (knight wannabe
in his bishop rick) torrid
me psychological wrack
king within (castle keep)
complex edifice shackled
in dungeon with repast constituting.
Jun 3, 2018
Jun 3, 2018 at 3:46 PM UTC
The night’s grim demeanor
Destroys the serenity of the moon
Ravishes the sacred
Hearts of the unfortunate few
Who dare brave the soulless vacuum
Where ignoble hate
Defines one’s belonging
Siphoning life from
Those around their fancied niche
To fuel their self-righteousness
Some fall victim to
The unreasonable, harsh wrath
Of the wretched demons
Whose empty skeleton bodies
Are devoid of happiness
But here you yet stand,
Angelic guardian,
Protectorate of the lonely,
You stand pristine, unmarred
Your smile banishes the treachery
Your beautiful smile
Transforms any place to a home
Captivates my heart:
You complete the person I am
And I love you more each day
Jul 4, 2013
Jul 4, 2013 at 12:07 AM UTC
systematized philistinism
aesthetic appeal to reason; ingenuity
iniquity within crusadery, crusadery within violence
right versus wrong versus up versus down versus christ versus jam versus peanut butter-
ceaseless competition of egoism within protectorate instincts
totemic defense of ideals
burn the effigy of the opposing party via verbose roastery
point at fingers
pointed at moon
hapless the artist,
and hapless the pragmatist
and hapless the sodden fool ye who wish to knows better
haplessly holier than thou
Jan 30, 2016
Jan 30, 2016 at 1:28 AM UTC
in the year of our Lord 1894
I turned into a protectorate
And my boundaries defined
Patiently I stood abiding day after another
Laws of change
With leaders of progress
much was offered and much
Was lost
I didn't grow till 1962
When I attained peace.
Lived to my personal view
Having a song of my own,
All protruding to success.
In no time puberty struck
And those I cared for
Tore me apart
They came in through
Different doors
One by one
suppressing and oppressing.
I still stood patient
From terror to honour standing firm
52years of sweat
From a pulprit to the bush
Glory to the Heavens
"May God uphold thee"
Through the many years of pain
Blood and bullets
I gained independence
Never can I turn back.
For God And my Country
Oct 9, 2014
Oct 9, 2014 at 3:22 AM UTC
Golden string tied love
Floating down from above
Your tiresome grip so effortless
Put all my hopes on a departing ship
Sail it out where it won't be found
Attack it, cold chain tie bound
Where it rest move the ground
A protectorate shield of muddy mound
Clouded feelings and judgement
Escape here in the dungeon now
Tomorrow's light shall break the clouds
Dec 4, 2014
Dec 4, 2014 at 12:32 AM UTC
What ruminations do the incandescent, ivy-clad trees,
whisper to the wuthering winds from the farthest shores?
Do not, the neighing leaves, fluttering, and dancing with the breeze,
mingle amongst the gusts fair, as reunited friends, at a carnival fair?
Or perhaps, their hushed whispers, trace the ramblings of the drooping dwellers,
who were so daring as to build upon nature's perennial, the scion, that now laughs with the ebon wind,
and shakes the speckled, many-hued clothes-line, from high boughs and brambles;
And, bringing the potted earth, falling to meet its ancestral home, exposing that wary person,
who could not, shrouding behind the mantelpiece,
look out and see afar, and realize both matters of the truth and black lies spun on fragile threads.
But, why should he? Did he want to see with the malice, that the wind shimmered,
spreading its enchantment through the brambles of that old spire, crooked in heart and hand?
Or, would he rise to the order of the protectorate, a guardian of his homely abode?
But, it shall never be the latter, for as this tale is spun, that perennial is long gone,
gnawed of soul and life, standing, a father of an older age, beneath the skies dim.
Oct 3, 2017
Oct 3, 2017 at 10:02 AM UTC
I have realised that these past few months have reaffirmed a feeling that I have longed for - of to be wanting and to be wanted by you.
While we were both too quick on our mouths to say the magical three words, we were also too quick on our feet to leave the chaotic madness we ourselves brought into our lives.
At the end, of our phone calls, of our verbal conversations, of our faces on the screens and of subtle touches; we have went through this - by the feeling of to be wanting and to be wanted by each other.
I have always wanted you since the beginning and you were clever enough to say that too. You were sincere as much as I was on playing the hide and seek game of love in the beginning.
It was enjoyable to say the least; you were over the moon and I was already at the edge of the galaxy. It happened in split second - too fast to even realise we have stepped into the medieval game of ********** of controlling ourselves and the other.
Suddenly things changed, we were anchored by our feelings, our minds were hanged on the thread of irrational thoughts, blinding our minds of the same feeling we sought for in the beginning - of us wanting and to be wanted by each other.
Yes, I am greedy to want you all to myself. No one can touch you, complement you or even smile at you. No one shall dare neither to want you like I want you nor to look at you like I look at you. It is who I am - greedy for the best thing that life has to offer to me and you are, my love, the best thing that I have wished for.
Yes, I am selfish to want you all to myself. By succumbing you to my harshest, meanest laws - without ever thinking about you and your own greediness and selfishness. It was a mistake and for that my love for you forever and always is the price I shall pay by sweats, toil and tears of my soul and body.
Sayang,
I have chosen you for my greediness and selfishness;
I have chosen you to be the world that I show my darkest desires;
I have chosen you to be the world that I indulge my fantasies about the brightest days of my life with you as my wife.
To live is to choose and to live with you forever is a choice worth taking - for all the happy memories and sad emotions we have fertilised our stories together.
Sayang,
I want you alone and I am yours alone, too.
Let me be your knight, your Protectorate,
The man of actions that you wish for me to be and I will serve you;
For you are the Queen of my heart.
Dec 12, 2020
Dec 12, 2020 at 11:09 AM UTC