(1) Rough Road Ahead? . . .
All passengers in a car running on a full tank
of fundamentalist religion, we're tied up with
freedom and democracy in back. Money's
in the driver's seat, with nation states spinning
with a vengeance, one against the other, for
wheels. Hey, somebody just yelled, "Get out
at the next right!"
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| go to Picture/Poem Poster of Rough Road shown at the right (prints 81/2 x 11" (A4)) Also available as .pdf download (79 K) | |
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(2) The Path of Violence; The Path of Peace
The first mistake we make in dealing with the violence
of the world is to name it evil;
The second mistake, made possible by the first, is to see
this disorder as somehow 'out there', that is, as separate
from our own essential nature, and therefore something
to be fought against with the very same violent use of
force we wish to bring to an end in the first place;
Finally, the third mistake, made possible by the first two,
is to believe that the resulting path of violence is somehow
inevitable, and that we must prepare therefore by doing
whatever is necessary in order to prevail by the use of force.
When seen from the perspectives of distance and neutrality,
however, this whole mechanical pattern of reacting to reactions
is generated by the powerful illusion that peace, order and
tranquility are all just around the next corner,—if only we
could stand firm and eliminate evil once and for all, we think.
Clearly, what is needed is to stop the forward momentum
of the illusion by stepping out onto a different path, one which
does not simply answer violence with more violence, but
rather addresses—one at a time and all at once—its
real root causes.
Crucially important is that these two paths -- the path of
violence, and the path of peace -- nowhere cross, and are in
no sense related.
(3) Less Power, More Flower
The cheap slogans of politics and commerce are like aggressive alien
weeds, overrunning the common ground of language with a kind of
false—or irre-poetry; They numb our natural sense of the
refined sonic
elements of verse, reducing rhythm, anaphora and rhyme to mere clever
instruments in a grab-bag repertoire of tricks eager to serve the abuse
of power and unjust gain.
One of the primary tasks of Poetry is to protect this common ground,
especially for the young, in the same way we might protect the Earth
itself, whether it be a patch of prairie alongside a busy road, or the
delicate balance of species in a remote and pristine alpine meadow
no one ever sees.
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| go to Picture/Poem Poster of Cotton Grass shown at the right (prints 81/2 x 11" (A4)) Also available as .pdf download (75 K) | |
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