Shoah .... Desolation

 

Theirs was the voice of anguish and fear 

echoing spiritual disbelief and confusion

in the agony of yet another rejection

murmuring softly their trust betrayed yet

their proud existence as equals in humanity

before finally turning for compassion

abroad for hope was not yet lost though 

the soul was gravely wounded. Their

obedience to a succession of rules meant

to disenfranchise and strip their humanity 

a gradual exercise in humiliation finally 

attaining the greater purpose in a precision

clockwork of organized cleansing toward 

the goal of national perfection and conquest 

where expunging the impure and inferior 

was the first order of business to restructure 

a world free of Jews. A voice unheard

calling to a disinterested audience oblivious 

with its deliberation of non-involvement

revealing a vile shared pathology. A lifetime

later the genocidal perpetrators profess

profound regret, their global audience

applauds and the sinister venom of hatred

that fuelled that genocide is once again

abroad in the resurgent world community.

 

 

Child of Nature

 

In the favoured legend of human creation

alongside that of the universe itself

as a monumentally divine act of being

god made man in his image and forbade

humanity from the kind of curiosity that

would reveal the arcane knowledge so

adamantly forbidden them, expressing

his rage at womankind for leading mankind

into sin eating of the fruit of knowing all

things. Adam's intensity in seeking the

unknowable; the original sin however, Eve's.

Hark then to the creatrix of all that exists

and lives -- not a legend for a perplexing

all-powerful presence whose own design

and creative genius brought out of nothing

everything. Nature herself the most fecund

of all that exists whose spirit resides in

all she created, values curiosity as a vivid

example of her own, spurring humankind

to ever greater adventures of discovery to

discern her limitless power and influence

bringing illumination to the dark heavens

of her imagination, endowing humanity

with a certain portion of her vigor through

inspiration to uncover the mysteries of existence.

 

 

Mayday! Mayday!

 

How fortunate the world is to have forged

a noble institution wherein sit national

representatives of all nations on Earth in a 

monumental and ongoing learning experience

the goal of which is to achieve among all 

equality of opportunity and mutual recognition

of disparate methodology in reaching the apex 

of a national aspiration. Within its hallowed

fortress walls are dispatched those best suited

to express the language of diplomatic eloquence

in servitude to the administration of a body 

for which servile yet respectful overtures

toward anointed judges elected to sit on diverse

committees screen applicants' and supplicants' 

adherence to rules and regulations of civil 

behaviour in a universal covenant the better

to consider the status of other nations with 

impeccable human rights records hampered 

by the misfortune of historical suspicion and 

hatred yet awaiting judgement by the hierarchy

whose criminal acts against humanity shield 

them from criticism by the sheer weight of 

their numbers. It is a revelation not quite yet

understood universally that the institute where 

nations are united in common defiance against

decency and common sense that those who 

fall outside the default represent the outliers 

whose conduct though exemplary is despised 

in a world where those assigned to the highest 

echelons of united nations control reward those

whose blights are so reflective of their own.

 

 

Ah, The Internet!

 

Fascinating how modern technology

in communications has advanced with

a rapidity that is head-spinning to the

elderly and liberating to the young and

the opinionated, though the latter's use

is an exploration of impermissible limits

and the former's the opportunity at long

last to air yawn-inducing perceptions for

which there was never an audience at hand.

This is termed the democratization of

free speech and communication enabling

anyone able to master the starter-level

of advanced technology to grunt out in

illiterate mumbles their dissatisfaction

with life as a social-victimized outsider

of constantly shifting populist culture. The

irresistible allures of the social media

platforms draw the interest and the ire of

the entire spectrum of civil and uncivilized

society from local sanitary engineer to president

homebody to celebrity, royalty to prison

incarcerates, each invested in opening the

deep confines of their sensibilities to

eager public scrutiny, all while insisting on

their right to privacy, prepared to bring

suit against those who intrude, while the

more political-minded state their outrage

firing up against incompetent governments

and waging skillful verbal battle with the

numbskull morons who admire and support

the same useless twits their votes have

placed into public office in a world where

doom draws ever nearer, cry its prophets.

 

 

Thwarted

 

The sign read
'inexperienced climbers beware'
(arrow pointing to alternate).

The ascent precipitous
narrow path boulder strewn
criss-crossed with treeroots
helpfully gripping the soil
grudgingly assisting our climb.

At the cascades the
tumbling waters were a sight
yet fear of a misstep
and wildly winging heart
dulled the image to a
delirious troubled mirage.

A mile up the mountain
we could rest and
lave tired feet in the
crystal stream
           cold as death
       clear as a wish
  pure as my fear.

In retrospect I regret
my refusal to go on
valuing as I did my
every limb -- for the memory
of a peerless overview
and promise of more

at the summit pricks my
frailty
         goads your recall.
If I promise
                 same time
           same place
      next year?

 

 

Perils of Forest Life

 

Magical, mystical, ethereal the

forest valley was bathed in a pearl-white

mist lifting the gloom from the interior

rising and falling in swells from the

frozen creek undulating through its

banks newly lofted with fresh snow.

No sun to penetrate the leaf-naked

forest canopy this day, only the wind

shushing through the evergreens

their needle-pointed tops nodding

and clacking against each other. The

newfallen snow absorbed all sound

until the high-decibel cry of a giant

red-headed woodpecker pierced the

silence as the bird reached its destination

and the near woods drummed with the

percussion of its wrecking beak ripping

great shards of bark rhythmically and

mercilessly, leaving great gaping wounds

in the old tree's trunk where spring sap

would rush dismally up from its roots

and finding the open gap, overflow to

the trunk and the forest floor in the slow

and agonizing death of an elder tree

playing its part in nature's revolving

door architecture of life and death.

 

 

Always a Bridesmaid

The essential dynamics of human trust

are elemental; sincerity, truthfulness and

open communication. Rare qualities to be

sure when two groups face one another in

an irresolvable struggle where one speaks

of inheritance while the other accuses those

of timeless existence in the disputed area of

being interlopers, false claimants to land

contestants intend to share with none other 

than their own. The wisdom of Solomon 

put to the test judging whom between them

proffers the more valid argument when it is

an ancient temple dedicated to the almighty

which his era and his order established. Yet

his successors in the land of Judea where

his descendants have never failed to worship

and till the land welcoming an ingathering

diaspora's return are violently assailed by

challengers to a dry and history-dusted land

transformed by their enterprise to verdant

productively arable orchards, yet must turn

their ploughshares to military defence against

counter-claimants adamantly resistant to the

peoples' presence in a land of their own. So

frequently have the offers of apportioning and

friendship been refused, the bridegroom is no

longer invested in cohabitation with the

sullen bride, left to bitterly call upon her

extended family to destroy the home that 

might, with earned trust, have been her own.

 

Conform or be Stigmatized

 

Truly, the ancient sages were wise when they

 

placed covetousness among the damned emotions

 

motivating humanity against better judgement

 

for jealousy and resentment are bred of that

 

state of mind and invariably what results does

 

no justice to the societal need of the reasonable

 
social contract that would have us regarding

 
others unlike ourselves with perfect equanimity

 
and generosity of spirit. Thou shalt not covet

 
has its place on the tablets of command and

 
yet we do, for this inheritance is coded into

 
humanity. Gregarious creatures, we are

 
anxious to be as like one another as to be

 
accepted as a clan, all others strange and to

 
be shunned. Yet even when we are able to

 
genuinely view others as equals to ourselves

 
whose flamboyantly visible psyches deviate 

 
to seek their own sex, insist that what be 

 
discreet among intimates be visible and 

 
awarded plaudits, or risk the wretched

 
condemnation and persecution they once 

 
themselves suffered. Cultural heritage 

 
institutions must now extend beyond serving 

 
the vast majority of binary pairs to equality 

 
of recognition in the covenant of the marriage

 
bond, and those who will not willingly 

 
take part in public manifestations of open

 
sexuality at 'Pride' parades become social

 
outcasts in a contradictory reversal of 

 
social intimidation as cultural outcasts.

 

 

Your Truth

 

What could be as headily liberating

as the freedom to speak, to release

from the prison of your mind how

you feel, what you think, your

unsolicited but urgently needed

expressions of belief, your solutions

to problems that you know exist yet

are rarely discussed, the details of what

you know so that others may too and

from your generosity of sharing may

join you in your private campaigns

or laud your courage in airing such

sentiments, perhaps even assemble a

cadre of like-minded stalwarts in a

campaign to air the musty corridors

of certainty and introduce nuances of

disbelief challenging and exciting. So

no need to clasp silently those thoughts

and misgivings lest you betray your

enmity to the smug civility of the social

contract for the greater virtue of free

speech calls. You are not truly racist

when you parry-and-thrust verbally

over critiquing the criminality of

Zionism, the penchant of Blacks to

disrupt the serenity of the white race

the slovenly habits of Asians and others

whose culture and errant habituation

sounds the clarion of disruption to the

norms. And when you scathingly consider

feminism a symbol of man-hating

bitches focused on empowering women

while emasculating men. And nor do

women have a monopoly on gender

for any man bent on upsetting their

referential superiority has but to declare

himself an absolute her for society to 

humbly genuflect -- for this, you see, is the

grand power of free speech utterances.

  

In The Pre-Dusk Woods

 

In the final analysis the peculiar event

may come down simply to suggestibility

as in how susceptible you may be to unseen

but suspected creatures stalking you for

purposes known not only to its own natural

predation heritage but narratives dispensed by

others of personal worrying confrontations 

as well as news that such attacks have had

devastating consequences for those whose

devoted canine companions have sensed

danger and sprung to their humans' defense

sacrificing themselves to the jaws and claws

of creatures of the wild acting on compulsion

of their own survival. You are nervous and

wary, walking through the icy winter forest

trails impressed on the deep snow leading off

pathways into the denseness of the interior

where evening dusk is yet to creep its presence.

With you are two small dependent leashed

dogs who suddenly begin a hysterical chorus

of barks at the approach of a large and well

behaved dog and a woman with whom you

exchange cordial greetings and advise her

of the daytime presence of coyotes in the

wooded ravine you are both traversing. The

dogs leap and frolic and are suddenly stiff

while a movement off the side, furtive, quiet

captures your eye as you think you see a 

tall, lean, grey creature sidling behind a

copse of trees, startled by the fuss; another

on the opposite side, as you incredulously

convince yourself that what you see is what

is occurring then and there. And suddenly not.

 

 

Heritage, Tradition, Culture

 

There is much reason to look back in time

with awe at the peak of civilizational, artistic

philosophical, scientific and inventive genius

of a multitudinous people of the ancient past

when the Middle Kingdom presided over

the East as an example of what the human

mind could aspire toward and the aesthetic

appeal of perfection in art when exquisite

scrolls brushed philosophical formulae for a

millennium of outstanding achievements in all

fields of human endeavour. Today we look back

with veneration at the fine creative intelligence

the invaluable lessons, the artifacts of grace and

beauty, and marvel. Archeology had dusted

away the accumulated detritus of time to

reveal peerless porcelains and jades, strategic

military formulae, terracotta armies, a great

wall able to withstand siege, administrative

genius based on merit alone and infinitely

more, revealing that ancient place of history

so at odds with its current iteration where

tradition and heritage are scorned in favour

of a brave new world of government monopoly

with an irresistible drive to mercantile power

and political conquest bypassing the values

of yore exemplified by thriving open markets

to feed the limitless population in varied

metropolises catering to China's vast appetite

to consume all that nature has given life to.

 

 

Look to Yourself

 

We are so besotted with ourselves

wallowing in the certainty that we

are unique, none others that live

or have ever lived, or will live

can possibly be as we are. Our

every experience, emotion and

reaction is ours and ours alone. It

is as though our creatrix took endless

time, and thought and effort to pursue

a blueprint ours alone that no other

could conceivably possess. Our

shallow conceit speaks to our love

of self in a way that is never

extended outward to encompass

humanity at large which surely

has its own argument, each and

every one of their own enriched

passions and perceptions that none

others can emulate for it is beyond

their abilities. All of which enable us

to look with covert disdain on all

others though a genius once took

pains to message us all through words

and sentiments of immortal value.

I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?  

Hath not a Jew hands, organs, 

dimensions, senses, affections, 

passions; fed with the same food,

hurt with the same weapons, 

subject to the same diseases, 

healed by the same means, warmed

and cooled by the same winter and 

summer as a Christian is? If you 

prick us do we not bleed? 

If you tickle us do we not laugh? 

If you poison us do we not die?

And if you wrong us shall we not

revenge? If we are like you in 

the rest, we will resemble you 

in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,

what is his humility? Revenge.

If a Christian wrong a Jew, what 

should his sufferance be by Christian 

example? Why, revenge. The

villainy you teach me I will execute,

and it shall go hard but I 

will better the instruction.

 

 

Oppression, Persecution, Revolt

 

Tyrannical rulers invent the rules of their

realm starting with their reliance that those

whose lives they dictate meekly defer to

those with state power knowing full well

the default of inevitable arrest, imprisonment

torture and death declaring them enemies of

the state. Should an almighty deity be invoked

as proof the tyrants are vested with godly

authority, all the greater obeisance and

obedience follows. But even the oppressed

and the downtrodden will recognize limits

to their despairing conditions when resignation

impulsively transforms into viral outrage, their

humiliation and powerlessness sparks into

flaming dissent and a mass revolt erupts

when one and then another domestic atrocity

too many leaves them reeling in disbelief

at the excess of inhumanity they are subjected

to with casual ease. Then, the tide turns when

the tyrants understand the power of numbers

reflecting an unstoppable tide of rejection

and a universal call for the regime's downfall.

Initial brutality, the swift response to quell the

riots fail, leaving the rulers to quail in dismay

offer profound apologies, promise reform in

deference to the peoples' wishes but nothing 

can now defuse the volcanic eruption of human

grief and rage prepared to destroy those whose

preoccupation has too long been the ultimate

challenge of vanquishing the human spirit.

 

 

A Light Unto The Nations

 

In the annals of human lore there are

unique and rare stories whose ancient

origins are located in the mists of time

and this is one of them. This is a story

of humankind whose iteration is endless

one for which there is surely a genesis but

just as surely no limit. It endures in all its

manifestations with no sign of flagging

as it makes its way into the future. It is

not a fable, not a myth, not a folk story

but a repeatable occurrence that no

measurable calamity is capable of stemming

for the cause and the reaction stirs itself to

life without end. It is not exactly a story

of unrequited love, nor is it a story of

human compassion overcoming adversity.

This story is, by any measure, one of

ghastly horrors, of a mass rejection of

the presence of a people upon whom is

visited, era following era, catastrophic

enmity and annihilation. It is a people

among whom the seed of genius has been

generously endowed yet whose purported

character is unfailingly held in contempt.

It is a people for whom hope and a future

is denied but they themselves cling fast.

 

Beware The Urban Forest

 

They are sagacious creatures, bold and

masters of strategy as befits those of

the animal kingdom's predators. Much

after all, depends on their practised

hunting habits, for in their ancestral

habitat they maintain a balance in the

presence of creatures they stalk. They

are also particularly adaptable, since

their once-wild geography was invaded

and with little interest in seeking refuge

from interlopers they have become

extremely skilled at slinking about 

the background making full use of the

same green spaces so valued by other

animal species including man. Human

habitation in close proximity to those

natural places where they can den and

procreate is of little account for they

are also adept at scavenging albeit not

preferentially. Their appearance is

similar to that of the dogs that people

walk in natural settings, oblivious to

the presence of untamed canids though

the dogs detect their presence alerting

themselves that long-distance cousins

are about, seldom imagining themselves

prey. Silently lurk the coyotes, awaiting

opportunities; one offering the prospect

of play-time friendly dogs are eager to

indulge in, unaware that others unseen

follow behind fully prepared for group action.

 

 

National Dilemmas

 

  Photograph: Sombo Sombo/Alamy

In poverty-stricken countries of the world

 
which we may no longer refer to as Third World 

 
countries but rather make full use of the 

 
euphemism 'emerging economies', there is one

 
inexhaustible natural resource the envy of

 
First World economic nations; the growth

 
steady and reliable, of their populations where 

 
the natural increase grows and grows despite

 
privation, food scarcity, joblessness and lack 

 
of medical care and the unfortunate loss of life 

 
accompanying those lacks. In those countries 

 
governed either by incompetents or a hierarchy 

 
of privileged elites for whom nothing of concrete

 
value lacks, the great unwashed for whom 

 
sanitation, potable water, basic foodstuffs, power

 
and health care remain beyond imagination it's 

 
live or perish as fortune rolls her die, and  hope 

 
is lost. Yet wealthy nations grapple with their

 
confounding statistics that emphasize population

 
replacement expectations remain mysteriously 

 
misplaced for as the aged die, fewer are born to 

 
replace them. This, even as administrations enact

 
legislation and expend treasury to enhance

 
the prospect of child-bearing, offering measures

 
inconceivable to those others, even while

 
residents of wealthy nations sneer at their

 
subsidies, the child care provisions, the health

 
care, the paid parental leave, as insufficient

 
in depth and quantity as a persuasive gambit.