Every day the news screams
"***** VICTIM,
AGE
NAME:    
PLACE_"
Underneath
The description of what happened.

Some people take note,
Others read it out of pity
sometimes concern
very few take action

I am nothing more then a jellyfish
Reading the news every day.
Clicking my tongue in pity.

Pity?
We don't need pity.
We need awareness.
Action.
Movement.

I won't try to poison your ears
Telling you lies
As if I'm a victim of assault
or harassment
I won't tell try to earn sympathy
telling you I know someone
who experienced that
someone close to me
I don't

But I hate that feeling,
walking down the streets
worried about every single person behind me
Terrified they might be a potential attacker.
I hate worrying, about my friends
Who are just outside for a few minutes
And yet have to be careful?

This is
Blasphemy.
Why must we be careful?
Is it due to our genitals?
Is that the ONLY REASON?
It angers me

"You know better!"
I would rage silently at the news
It has no effect,
never will
never does
If I just keep my thoughts

As thoughts.

"You Keep It"


You keep it
Don't want your pain
Ain't we all got enough?
But that ain't all there is
Excite me with false torture
Don't want the real thing
You keep it
Except on the news
Can't get enough
Birds fly south we ain't looking
Watching blood puddling on the side-walk
At six and ten
Can't get enough
Even watch the re-runs
Can't get enough
The insatiable hole
Can't get enough
Dream it in dreams
Can't get enough
Play it in games
Can't get enough
Till the end of days
Can't get enough

"David Cassidy moved to the ICU
         on Sunday as his condition began
         deteriorating..."    The Daily News

Go figure:
David Cassidy lies dying as
Charlie Manson laughs
into the hollow cough of truth.

And we children of the 70's,
no longer innocent spectators,
wonder:  Who was right afterall?
The Lover?  The Hater?
Who was right? 

And "I think I love you...
but what am I so afraid of?"
I'm afraid WE ARE helter-skelter--
that's what!

And madder than Alice's Hatter,
madder than an Oracle--
ignored, good ol' Charlie laughs
along with the voices in his head
at us, because he knew more in
those few days in Hollywood
than the Partridge boy would
ever understand:  Fame is fleeting,
unless it is fear based.
Then, then... it lasts a life time.
Amen.

It may be news to some
That I am not that dumb
You say im not the brightest
But you havent even the slightest
The words from your mouth can deceive
But most find them hard to believe
Your words are always sour
You often abuse your power
But at least I can say
That I am not old and gray

Quite the start to the weekend
There it goes, watch it ends
These pages are made of dust
What is half read is still unread
Tree of paper leaving glue trail
In search of the perfect bookmark
I found a place for receipts to recuperate

I locked eyes with Jupiter
On a wooden coffee table
The great counterclockwise storm
Ticking away with each drop
Disaster, sky without a star

Heaven receives blessings,
On slow workdays
When martyrs are lucky enough to live
We swore by that which divides day and night,
and fails to conquer either
That Faith must not pass the gate
Until they call for prayer
Until the square of crossroads is clear
Sometimes I feel like a disbeliever in Jerusalem

Prayers manifest duality as one
So shoulders can shrug in unison
Banal attempts to restore faith
Outrage is out of reach
The mind sets red-tape traps,
We call that mindless assertions
In the climate of trumpets and megaphones
Nothing escapes poltics
Vicious cyclones of “Breaking News" cycles
"I see pictures of children in faraway places that wreck me for a day"

i'm going to collect your words
put them all in a tub
watch them stick to wet skin
swirl as i begin to rub

oh words, dear friend
it hurts to feel you again
maybe if i soak in here long
my head, you'll finally sink in