Douglas Adams wrote a posthumous disputing dissertation,
but he was dead anyway
so it didn’t matter.

The calendars that were hung on walls
resigned their position
admitting that they no longer had the answers,
that only the newly-fashioned 2002 calendars had the answers,
and so all humanity must go to the store
to spend again
and buy again
and perpetuate the cycle
of capitalism and time
again.

I did not see the hands agree.
they agreed it was time for a change
and then it was back to arguing.
It will take Time 365 days
to realize that 2002 is not the answer
any more than 2001 was the answer
and it will try 2003
until 365 more days’ arguments
will disprove that theory too
and when will this progression of time be broken?

I did not see the hands agree.
There were many people in Catherine’s house,
but no TV
only a small room
with a clock.
The room was full
Catherine Peter Brody and I
waited outside for the clock
to signal to the people
to shout-- a signal
for us to be signaled
to shout
and the entire east coast of America
shouted
exactly an hour after
those a few hundred miles to the west
shouted
exactly an hour after
those a few hundred more miles to the west
shouted.
The world was shouting
excited to live another year
but will we get through this year
if the kings shout
and the emperors disagree
and the aristocrats join in the battle
this disharmonious disjoining of peace.

The revolutionaries are shouting
at the status quo
and at each other.
They have decided it is time for a change
but what kind of change?
and how to achieve change?
is it possible to protest to pressure the corrupt capitalist command
or will nothing short of an all out bloody worker’s revolution
save the world?

I would like to save the world
it would be good for my ego, you know?
I would like for the world to be saved
because I feel for those
who suffer
and die
and I don’t know why
I think peace will work
but I know it is the answer.

Do I know it is the answer
because I think it’s a trippy concept
and I like to think I support trippy concepts?
Do I know it is the answer
because I am an idealist?
A fool?
Do I even know it is the answer?

Am I concerned for the world
because I have a soul
or is the whole
of humanity
so soulless
as I like to write it is?

Will I sacrifice my life for the world?
Will I sacrifice my dignity?
Will I sacrifice my ideology?
If I concern myself with the world,
do I also concern myself with me?
Where am I when Time changes its mind,
am I out there
trying to find the answer
trying to persuade my answer
or am I enjoying myself
or pitying myself,
that is not sacrifice
it is self-absorbment,
so where was I?
When they were renegotiating 2001,
a momentous year
that has caused the powers to oppress
it had been an entire month since I had marched for peace
or researched for the civil liberties advocate
and I was not advocating for a better world when the clock struck 12,
I was partying with my friends.

And what will I do as Time argues away 2002 day by day
will I watch as the world pushes on
but progresses none
year to year,
or will I focus solely on my own progression?

If I do watch the world,
will I do
or will I watch?
I will see nothing to please me if I do not do,
so perhaps it is in my best interest to do
and perhaps my interest is simply not interesting
of no significance
when the world’s interest is at hand
in the hands
of greed
I must not concede
we must not concede
the people must not concede
our world
we need
to unite
and fight,
but how?
what for?
Those are the questions
whose answers have been divided
those are the questions
that divide
those who think they know the answers.
Still, we should unite,
but the left would rather fight
itself than the right.

We each make New Year’s resolutions
if we each made the same New Year’s resolution
to make the world a peaceful place
perhaps the world would be a peaceful place.
If we each resolved
to have a good year
to make the year be a good year
for ourselves
and, if we heed the call of our conscience,
to make the year be a good year for select others too
and, for the most compassionately ambitious of us,
to make the year be a good year
for everyone.

The clock struck 12; The new year Came
we knew this because we heard the crowded room of people who were able to see the clock shout.
We did not hear the millions of other people shout
although I know that in the apartment next to us
surely somebody was shouting.
I could talk about shouting again
but I would just be repeating myself
and if I feel I have to repeat myself
I might as well start shouting myself.

“It’s 2K-Deuce, bro,” exclaimed Brody.
“Gonna be a good year,” and that was my New Year’s resolution,
but would it be a good year for me
or for the world?
Maybe it will take me a year to figure that much out…
And what does this all mean?

I could ask Ayla to consult her tarot cards again,
the ones that told me that I was the master of my own fate
if I only had conviction enough
to decide to be my master.
The cards told me I had the power to decide how I wanted my life to be,
and to make that my reality.
But what about the world?
Have I any bearing on the world?
And what if I don’t know how I want things to be for me?
And if I do find my will what if I am not strong-willed enough to act upon it?
I never believed in tarot cards anyway
and hell,
what if the world comes to an end before 2003,
and we all go to hell
save for the few of us who’ve given our life’s savings to Jerry Falwell.

So much confusion,
so after Broudy got on the train back to Philly
I went home and slept
through the rest of New Year’s Day.

Maybe all I want to do is sleep
and dream lucidly
for the rest of my life
and for the rest of my dream
I will listen to the Tosca Tango Orchestra
I will watch movies directed by Richard Linklater
I will worship Glamorous Iguanas
I will be chatted up by philosophers sociopaths slackers
I will be harangued by scientists scholars rhetoricians
and experience Waking Life in a dream,
floating high
and blissfully higher
until I never stop floating
to the highest
nirvana.