Creation, Time and Space

 

An imposing cathedral of

 

unparalleled beauty sheathed in

 

crystalline grandeur lifts its

 

imperious grace to the ceiling

 

of the sky, velvet with approaching

 

night, a halo of moon and the

 
boldness of stars impassively

 
observing a landscape unlike

 
their own of frozen gases and

 
ancient minerals. The one below

 
with its living atmosphere

 
responds to the distance of its

 
sponsor-sun in a frigid pause

 
of the clamour of growing

 
things unlike the inert nothingness

 
of cold and distant space. This

 
most familiar place of time and

 
seasons, liveliness and curiosity

 
a highly specialized experiment

 
by nature in randomized creative

 
adventure. And so, her creations

 
look up and peer beyond the

 
darkness of the unknown, certain

 
of discovery and revelation.

 

 

 

Like Goldilocks

 

The calendar year never errs. It

registers me at 85. And it's true I now

bear a cap of silvery hair, my face is

creased where it never was before

and though I'm still quick not quite

as I was. Sometimes when I look in

the mirror I'm surprised by my mother's

presence. Mostly, though I feel young

and why shouldn't I? Like Goldilocks

not too old, not too young. Except that

is when I'm out in public and society

informs me by the subtlest of whispers

that I've graduated to elderly status and

then Goldilocks exits leaving me with

the impression I've suddenly become old.

 

Repulsing Extermination

 

Disdain, oppress and persecute anyone

long enough, threaten, demean, humiliate

and they've been psychically wounded. Carry 

on and add to that litany of contempt casual 

violence enabled by diminishing the human 

stature of those forever at target and then no

type of assault, no corrective violence to alter

their place in the world seems to suffice. Leaving 

the ultimate expedient of ridding oneself of an

intolerable nuisance whose presence galls and

we enter the theatre of atrocities once expressed 

in the frequency of deadly pogroms which

themselves were obviously inadequate to rid 

the world of the pestilence of Jews. Enter the

Final Solution to ultimately forge a perpetual

motion machine; delegitimize, sanction, isolate 

dispossess and violate paving the way inevitably for  

vast populations of those whose heritage found root

in what the pious call the Holy Land to be 

obliterated. That was then. Now the remainders

of the despised have resurrected their ancient 

homeland and now they respond blow for blow. 

Yet there is the reality of timid hesitation, full

self confidence absent for the outlier nation

remains held in low regard yet yearns for 

approval, so in response to deadly provocations

looks to the international community, unwilling 

to earn further censure and so refrains from

striking the final blow to an enemy once

again wholly dedicated to its extermination.

 

Bleak Black Celebrity

 

A crime so repulsively heinous it

boggles the mind that when he recorded

himself eviscerating the man he had

just killed and noting for posterity before

he posted it that the parts were a carnivore's

delight the atrocity provided entertainment

and evoked envy among those for whom

such atrocities were treats to be savoured.

An international search through Interpol

brought him back to the scene of the

crime where he was charged, tried and

convicted, a man whose posturing and

egocentric hubris transfixed a reluctant

audience with disbelief that anyone could

become such a monster. The mute grief

of the victim's parents as they sat day

after day through the trial before returning

to their own country to mourn their son

there, seared the memories of the public

compassionate in their own sorrow that

society could raise such a deviant wretch.

Mother of the sadistic murderer though

begs to differ; they don't know her son but

she does, a lovely human being with not

an ounce of venom in his heart for anyone

for he played with kittens not as charged

tormented then killed them. But it is the

kindheartedness of the national prison

system that places everything in its proper

perspective when it arranged for his

marriage with conjugal rights to another

prisoner as they couple for a lifetime of

what others call happily wedded bliss.

 

Doctor ....

 

He sees you every six months and

you seem to think your advanced age

gives you liberty each time to tell him

how weary he looks, how strained and

you admonish him as though he is the

patient and you the doctor. He regards

you thoughtfully, shrugs and admits he

needs a rest but cannot see where he

would find one. Too busy, too many

calls on his expertise, too much you

know, responsibility. And you part of

course amicably, in hand yet another of

his prescriptions for a test, one of many

he has prescribed for you a woman an

elderly woman with an irregular heart

condition. His wan and worn image

stays with you and when the telephone

rings and his office informs you that

your cardiologist will be 'away' for

three months leaving others to care for 

 his patients while he recovers from

surgery you are not surprised that his

cardiologist has sent him to a cardiac

surgeon to undergo open heart surgery.

 

The Human Construct

 

There can be no doubt about the reality of 

existence for it is fraught with perils that must

be faced and somehow overcome lest tragedy

overtake those unable or unwilling to fend 

for themselves in preventing through whatever

means necessary voiding their lives through 

inaction and lack of caution. Those whom fate 

has placed in backward tribal-infested countries 

where culture is replete with suspicion, hatred

and violence are never at a lack to find others 

lower on the scale of survival probabilities 

than themselves, working through their fears

and frustrations by persecuting those less able

to mount defences. In socially and economically

advanced culture where laws are enacted to

ensure that social justice protects everyone the

pathology of hate seeks the shelter of anonymity

slithering its presence into dark recesses of 

the mind and public social order is maintained. 

The advent of communication on a global scale 

unimpeded by distance and cost has unleashed

the primitive in those whose tribal roots remain 

deeply embedded enabling sinister communion 

in the brotherhood of ethnic, racist, tribal venom

emboldening with its assurance of the presence

of shared vitriol that sheer numbers alongside 

the certitude of superiority qualifies them to 

creep out of the shadows resurrecting their 

mantra of racist-inspired leadership under which

the unter-mensch grovel to plead for their lives 

forfeited to the conquest of the uber-mensch. 

 

 

Snow's Dominance

 

Mid-day and yet twilight prevails despite

our surroundings scintillating minute sparks

of colour emitted from the soft contours of

fresh snow newly fallen ... and falling ...

and falling ... throughout the dark hours of

the night and in the daylight hours of the

morning to accumulate muffling the sounds 

of hidden life in the forest, despite the

crowns of deciduous forest trees denuded

in preparation for winter inviting sound

to penetrate. Our footfalls on the forest

trail are muted, the snow not yet crusted

with ice, and our small dogs, jet black

against prevailing white as snow continues

its lazy spirals from the pewter sky

gamboling before us in an excess of

pleasure at the changed landscape and

its accompanying texture that moves them

to a transport of delight, provide in their

presence a counterpoint of distinction

the silent and motionless forest embracing

our presence, the woodland canopy a roof

porous enough to permit snow entry to

complete its all-encompassing mission to

place the natural world in sleep as nature's

elements of winter's stern reign prevail.

The landscape transformed into a still-life

distinguished by obliterated shades leaving

black, grey and pristine white to dominate.