The biggest fools,
Doomed to fail from the start,
Are the ones who assume
That most people are smart.
The ones who succeed,
And make money by the peck,
Are the ones who assume
People have low intellect.
But if you should ever
Doubt this is so
Just watch Jerry Springer
Or the Ricki Lake Show.
THE VIRTUE AND CRIME OF TIME
Time filters memory
Like a merciful strain,
So that only good
And beauty remains.
But without mercy,
This filtrated bliss,
At death makes us think
That living we'll miss.
SUFFRAGE
Louisiana has its bayous and boats.
It is also the state where dead people vote.
If our dead can dig out of their graves,
The voting lines to brave,
Then you and I have no reason that's valid
For not going to the polls to cast our ballot.
DISOBEDIENCE
For every action,
Say one of Newton's Laws,
An equal and opposite
Reaction is caused.
In physics this law
Is a constant reality.
But it does not apply
To you and to me.
If it did, indeed,
It would be very say.
For every good action
Would cause equal bad.
So you and I
Are special because
We are free to disobey
One Of Newton's Laws.
PERSPECTIVE
If one had to die,
Chicken or prince,
Which death
Would make better sense?
If you ask a rat
Which one should pass,
He wouldn't give
A rat's ass!
But it would be
The chicken that died
If the prince
Was the one to decide.
And the heart of the chicken
Would keep on tickin'
If it was the chicken
Who was doing the pickin'.
But ask a goat
To resolve this spat,
And he would likely
Agree with the rat.
"Man is the measure of all things,"
Protagoras once wrote.
But he was a man,
Not a chicken, rat or goat.
TROUBLE IN PARADISE
There was trouble brewing in heaven.
Jesus was showing some wear.
What was it that so fatigued our Lord?
Answering all of those prayers!
He went to God with his concerns.
Determined to have his say.
"There are almost six billion people,
And most of them pray every day.
They pray for more money.
They pray for their favorite team.
And you would not believe the number
Who pray to be homecoming queen.
They pray when they take a test.
Asking that we'll help them pass.
They get themselves in trouble,
And pray that we'll save their ass.
They pray for the sick.
They pray for those who are well.
They even pray for some lost souls
That we've already sent to hell.
Being the son of God,
Is not a job that I need,
If 24 hours a day
I must listen to people plead.
So take this as my notice;
I will split this scene
If you don't get me
A good answering machine."
God replied to his son
"Don't quit this godly mission.
When they pray do as I do
And just pretend to listen."
Jesus was astounded.
"You mean you just pretend?
You don't hear the 'Dear God's'
You don't hear the 'amen's?'"
"Of course I don't," said God.
"If I listened to all that trite
Even though I am God
I wouldn't have much of a life."
Jesus said to God,
"You really are cool!
To hell with all those prayers!
Let's go shoot some pool!"
So off they went to the pool hall--
Neither having a care--
Leaving mankind here on Earth
Without a prayer.
GLAD I DIDN'T KNOW
Everything I've ever done
That I considered good,
Required more work
Than I thought it would.
But I didn't know,
And for this I'm glad,
For I wouldn't have done them
If I had.
HIGH AND LOW
They automate, they downsize;
They send jobs overseas.
These are among the ways
Our business shows its greed.
And our poor grow in numbers;
They suffer for these offenses.
Their lives lose satisfaction;
These are the consequences.
And our poor think that God
Does not hear their prayers,
And if God does exist,
Then he no longer cares.
They lose spirit and faith,
Because of their losing hands;
They are no longer moved
To live as God commands.
Then our society suffers;
Our morality degenerates.
Our conscience is not strengthened
By religious faith.
And the rich count their money
And buy what they please;
But find their lives are lacking
Contented inner-peace.
For happiness and fulfillment
Comes not from purchased wares;
These will only come to those
Who answer their neighbor's prayers.
But if each person must learn this
by sacrificing their fate,
It will be individually learned
When it is collectively too late.
As we look at our degradation,
We look in places low;
For this is where we see
Our corrupt, immoral woe.
But to find the cause,
We must raise our stares,
And look at those who refuse
To answer their neighbor's prayers.
LIMITATIONS
Our eyes convert light to electricity;
This allows the brain to see.
But in this crude conversion
We miss much reality.
Our ears collect vibrations;
A small range we can detect.
And all other commotion
Our brain must neglect.
Nerve cells in our tongue and nose
Detect chemicals which go by.
But they can only detect those
Of a certain shape and size.
Our skin has little nerve cells
That respond to mechanical events.
They convert them to electricity,
And our brain makes them make sense.
With all our limitations,
It is easy to show
That there is much reality
That we can never know.
And what we are missing,
I'm led to believe,
Is far more than that
Which we can perceive.
TELL IT LIKE IT IS
I am very smart.
How do I know?
I heard it on TV;
My congressman said it's so.
I have high moral values;
I work hard for my pay.
How do I know?
It's what my senators say.
Whenver my ego suffers,
And self-esteem is missin',
I'm reminded of how good I am
By listening to politicians.
And you can bet I will
Continue to help elect
People so good at assessing
My character and intellect.
SOLITARY
The quality of living
Is so much less,
When in solitude
We find lonliness.
SUPREMACY
Last night in my sleep
I had a strange dream.
There were several animals
Arguing who was supreme.
The turtle said "I live long
And am protected so complete;
I only must be careful
When I cross the street."
The bird said "I fly
Into the sky so stellar;
But I must avoid
Airplanes and their propellers."
The fish said "I swim
So freely in the sea.
If not for pollution
Who know how great I'd be."
The spoke man:
"I build airplanes, streets and pollute."
The others grew silent,
As they knew their points were moot.
WHAT THEN?
When all lost souls
To the lord they win,
When crime, war and hate
Are put to an end,
When all broken hearts
Have been made to mend,
When the lonely have friends
And orphans have kin--
What then?
When all skin colors
Have been made to blend,
When babies don't cry,
Politicians don't lie,
When mosquitoes don't bite
And people don't fight,
When gamblers don't lose
And winos don't booze--
What then?
Without causes to defend,
No helping hand to lend,
Do we say "amen?"
Is this the end?
I don't know, my friend.
But when all of this happens
A part of the enjoyment
Will be seeing Geraldo
Draw unemployment.
SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE
With money and blood pressure,
Things can get really rough,
If you have an overabundance
Or not enough.
With money and blood pressure,
You'll be fit as a fiddle,
If for both you are
Somewhere in the middle.
LOVE AND MONEY
When people have money,
We love them more.
Money makes people
Easy to adore.
It makes them better looking;
It gives them personality.
They are people we want to talk to
And people we like to see.
We even love ourselves more
When we have a lot of bread.
We love ourselves so much
That it goes to our head.
Love and money--
It causes an ado;
Some suspect
That this love isn't true.
But it is true,
Without doubt,
Right up until
The money runs out.
HOPE
Hope abounds
In our impoverished hordes
As the only comfort
They can afford.
WRETCH
I know a poet,
I won't mention his name,
Who tortures himself
To write of the pain.
He sets himself up
For an emotional fall,
And proceeds to beat
His head against the wall.
Then he writes of the torment
And the agony he's feeling,
And calls it his way
Of bringing on healing.
But I think, in truth,
That he walks into hell
Because failing is the one thing
He really does well.
So I no longer pity him;
He chose this way to go,
To be a magnificant wretch
Rather than an average Joe.
PASS AND FAIL
Laws are passed
When morality fails.
Conscience is
Replaced by jails.
PAPER AND PEN
Paper and pen,
In the hands of the wise,
Can describe the beauty
Of a summer sunrise.
Paper and pen,
In the hands of love,
Can recreate the glow
Of the stars above.
But paper and pen,
In the hands of hate,
Can destroy all that
Love and wisdom create.
STRENGTH
The strength of the brave
Will far surpass
The size and might
Of their muscle mass.
CONDENSATION
Money is like water,
Once it goes into motion,
The pools, streams and ditches
Drain to the oceans.
Gravity demands
That material formations
Slowly drift
To lower elevations.
And the oceans will not share
With the pools, ditches and streams,
Except what the sun
Takes from them in steam;
And when condensation
Makes it heavier than air,
That is when
The poor get their share.
So the rich will always
Put the money away;
And the poor will bow
And to the heavens pray--
For the heat of the sun
To take some of these riches,
And caused them to fall
In the pools, streams and ditches.
CARROT ON A STICK
The people that I know,
With whom I'm most impressed,
Don't need a bribe;
Don't need a threat.
They just try to do right;
They just try to excel,
Without the bribe of heaven,
Without the threat of hell.
Having no dogmatic delusions,
And no faith in magic tricks,
They follow love and conscience
Without the carrot on a stick.
Being honest with themselves,
They avoid the nonsensic,
And the goodness they achieve
Is more purely intrinsic.
They gaze far and wide;
Their stare is not fixed
On an unattainable carrot
Which dangles from a stick.
Truth and virtue within,
Truth and virtue without
An imaginary carrot
With imaginary clout.
Truth and virtue within,
Without threatening control,
This may be
The essence of soul.
EMOTIONAL GROWTH
Love and hate are both
Emotions that grow.
You are almost guaranteed
To reap more than you sow.
If you decide to hate,
All the hate you do
Will be multiplied
And returned to you.
But if you choose to love,
The love that you extend
Will be amplified
And returned to you again.
NO COMPARISON
There was a wreck
On the interstate.
Traffic was backed up;
Everyone would be late.
When it became apparent
We were going nowhere,
We got out of our cars
To get some fresh air.
To my left was a man
Who drove a new Lexus.
I looked at his tag;
He was from Texas.
He was ranting and raving;
At the mouth he foamed,
As he shouted obscenities
Into his car phone.
Being delayed
Had set him aback.
He smoked a cigarette,
Then opened a fresh pack.
On the side of the road,
Pushing a buggy,
Was a homeless man,
So shabby and grubby.
As he walked past my car
I asked "how ya doin'?"
He said "I got a chipped wheel
In need of some gluin',
But other than that
Things are just fine."
He smiled and walked on--
Sipping his wine.
I looked at the Lexus;
I looked at the cart;
And I pondered what it was
That set these men apart.
The bum drank his wine;
The Texan hacked a cough.
I wondered which
Was better off.
Back Home
Poetic License
Prozac Killed The Poet
Thoughts on Thinking
Screwing Around With Archimedes
The Weapon of Poetry
Loose Collection I
E-ME
