PoorMonger
PoorMonger's JournalWhen A Man Builds A Monument
When a man builds a monument
He wants you to remember it.
When a state sanctions one
They want their version of events
To ring with some sense of officialdom.
Interested parties will whisper in low tones
Of high minded goals.
Education and commemoration ;
(erected for your edification)
Carved from granite,
Or cast and poured in bronze
The medium is aesthetic.
A malleable thing -
To please or trick the eye.
Interpretation then
Is left to you and I.
For the audiences' power
Grows every hour
As the evidence of history
Passes us by -
If we do more to remember it
Than build another monument.
In Medias Res.
The hero returns to & from the wilderness.
Bewildered by the consequence -
of romantic quests.
If he'd ever thought himself villainous
it was here and now, like this.
Odysseus – captured in knowing bliss.
The bed of the witch is warm-
A year in it is not so bad a sentence
if men are swine to begin with.
The hero circles back home at last.
Humbled by the subsequent
unromantic end.
If he'd ever learned a moral lesson
this was not how he'd imagine it.
Odysseus now murderous -
slaughters the lot of suitors.
Having proven his marital bed immovable -
he bonds with his father over bloody revenge.
The epic itself concludes upon a blessing
of the wronged parties forgetting.
Equally American
Black lives never said white lives didn't matter -
Or that blue lives should be gone after;
It's about equality under law-
Which they aren't getting.
When you are American-
You expect to be treated as human.
If you tell me all lives matter in response;
I can tell you are not listening.
Fair policing isn't black , brown or white.
It's a fundamental right.
And if you see its extension to others - as a threat to you ;
Well then , my friend
They've got you.
With the biggest lie they could've told.
Fairness isn't a finite resource ;
And freedom isn't either.
My gain is not your loss.
My pain is for you too.
All lives matter is at best a bogus rebuttal -
Lacking all substance.
it supposes a revision that supports division.
And distracts one from logical thinking.
You told me it was a fear;
And I hear it too -
With questions like why does it have to be a racial issue?
The reason is as simple as the facts.
You can't escape the skin you're in -
So if you are black
You know not to turn your back.
You know to put your hands up.
You know how to comply -
But still hope not to die.
While if you're white, you can recite
A long list of American rights -
Bitch and mumble
About your uniquely personal plight.
Or drunkenly stumble from your car one night -
But you know you'll be all right.
You won't die reaching for a valid ID.
You won't get shot because you moved 'aggressively' toward car keys.
Maybe they didn't have to brand it
Black Lives Matter:
But they did and it got your attention.
The heart of the Matter
Lives in people;
Not just their pigment.
They ask for equality,
in protest -
Another American right.
And are shouted down
With an empty slogan.
It's not just that this misses the point -
It feeds the fear you admit you feel.
But where is that rooted if not in the real?
You think its a question of vanishing values -
But equality never changed one bit.
Our country's composition did.
So now it's appearance -
Isn't what you grew up with
When you were a kid.
America is still the home of the brave; The land of the free.
It's more a tradition
Of your comfortable position
That's shifted -
Why is it
That you've never had to show bravery -
Just to enjoy freedom?
If you think speaking your mind
While peddling falsehood
Is somehow equivalent
Here's your white hood.
And no, I'm not calling you racist -
Just willfully blind to real injustice.
It isn't because you're American
It's born in the system.
A system where police are citizens too -
Authority is not just a badge and gun.
When equality is promised (under protection)
It comes with responsibility
That goes beyond mere sensibility.
This is why we govern with facts.
Not just our feelings.
All lives matter ignores our history
Because that's comfortable too
Comfortable for you:
If change is scary
If you associate right -
Or the color white with authority
If you've never been a minority
If you only see words -
And never heard or read the stories.
Black lives are often blue lives bruised.
They strive and dream here
They feel the heat here
They walk the beat here
You think your on a balance beam here?
Because your opinion may offend
And you'll feel wronged if we fight again?
If I raise my voice
Because again
You are not listening.
What if it was your skin?
You would fight like hell
I know you would -
Because unlike some
Your heart is still good.
That's why I'll tell you proudly
That black lives matter.
Their grievance is for equal justice
Not just a cause for white discomfort.
But if this poem hurts your feelings
That's okay too.
No man who ever spoke truth
said change was easy.
It never was
Us v.s. Them
They are us
We are them;
Equally
American.
Romance : An Abridged Version
She will drop another tincture in her tea
And say that it's for me.
But I know without asking
Where this conversation is going.
The hand holding is over.
Another summer in the books.
I've been reading noir all year -
Suspicious of everything.
What clued me was her breathing
Lesson learned.
Once more an abridged version
Of something like romance passes.
She will drop another tincture in her tea
And say that it's for me.
While I've known without asking
Why it wouldn't have lasted
Long enough for anything
But this -
An abrupt
Ending.
Craft Beer Group on DU?
Wonder if there is enough craft fans on DU to support its own subgroup? For now I'll just post to this thread to say what I'm drinking and we'll see how it goes. Eventually I'd love to see more join in since beer is a global hobby with regional markets and DU has posters from all over I would be interested in what you're drinking.
Cheers , PoorMonger.
Will Anyone Challenge Fischer in 2018 Senate?
She is a disaster , and is so far going unopposed. Sure, it's early - but we need to put up a fight here. Even unopposed she is much more vaunerable than someone like Sasse ( who just won with 60% +)
I think Deb only got something in the 40's last time when challenged by Bob Kerrey.
Anyone know of possible candidates? I like Kleeb whenever I see her talk issues but I dunno if she's looking at this seat.
We talk of the 50 state strategy, lets put it together!
Breaking : Another Dead Russian
I'm not good with links but just minutes ago I saw Abramson breaking this via Twitter. Putin's former media czar dead today -- he is another key link in the election scheme and it's believed (at this time) that he was due to talk to Feds very soon.
Someone with more forum skills please add the tweets , thanks
A Crusty Voice In Washington???
Trump just said McCain was a crusty voice in Washington when wishing him well and admitting they desperately need his vote to repeal Obamacare. If McCain is the deciding vote , with his pre-existing condition and all , I will lose all respect for the man. The cruel shiit irony of this is disgusting.
Crater Lake
A blind man sees
Crater Lake
reading a scale model
with his hands.
The interpreter
tries to describe
the myriad of
blueish hues -
the sky's reflection
plays upon the water.
The blind man
thinks he remembers
something of the color
from childhood.
When asked
about distance -
he says he knows
from walking.
In darkness,
he doesn't mention
and smiles.
Imagining -
Beauty.
Do We Even Have 17? Yes we do!
People on tv are giving this the soft kind of pass - saying well, he obviously hasn't learned this yet. It must be taken for the damnable lie it is at every turn. All 16 intelligence agencies and the DNI office should be shouting from the rooftops that yeah - we exist, and we agree on Russian interference. Right now they are seeming to take the easy route and imply Trump is clueless ; at least about this issue he isn't - or if he truly is, needs to shamed to acknowledging our own institutions. This is a plan to undermine any and all consensus within our system and is a direct attack on our own protective infrastructure by Trump.
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Member since: Sun Nov 6, 2016, 12:05 AMNumber of posts: 844
