Current Poem

ACTING DUMB TALKING STUPIDFirst decade of the Third Millennium not yet ended
and already were running out of language:
collapse, meltdown, disaster, fool, liar, hypocrite.

Actually, this centurys language sounds the same
as last centurys:
womanizer, lush, pansy, ponzi, fascist, whore,
socialist, warmonger, babymurderer.

As the Second Millennium ended, we hoped things
would somehow get better. Everybody was tired of
the same old same old:
pervert, Christ-killer, gun nut, loose cannon, nerd,
hijacker, on-the-ground, gas guzzler, train-wreck,
firefight, braindead corporate dittohead.

But here we are. Right back where we started:
nose-dive, dimbulb, raghead, credit crunch, scam
artist, camel jockey, eco-freak, skinhead, in-country,
freedom-hater, wealth destroyer.

Its not as if we havent tried to improve civil society,
expand ways we verbalize the global common:
blogosphere, infomercial, talking head, Back Story,
corporate mouth-piece, terror-symp, femme-nazi,
a-hole, McNews, toilet mouth, empty suit, dickwad.

But somehow the old familiar phrases keep popping
up again and again:
surrender monkeys, freedom fries, Neanderthal,
yellow cake, peckerhead, dink, neocon, slamdunk,
yahoo, redneck, sleazebag, slime mold.

Of course, with every technological advance, every
economic, political and cultural innovation, we ve
tried to invent new words, coin fresh phrases to
describe our astonishing human progress:
dingbat, headcase, charlatan, philistine, boob,
beerbelly, numbnuts, crook, Mafioso, trailer trash,
horse manure, eyewash, bullbleep.

Thankfully its not all doom and gloom. Members of
visible minorities, womens rights groups, the media,
plus countless creative individuals have enriched our
hardpressed twenty-first century vocabulary:
company stooge, asskisser, deadbeat, chiseler, jungle
bunny, lawn jockey, chauvinist pig, cowboy, fruitcake,
tree hugger, tightass, wetback, grease-ball.

And so it goes. Language races against social change,
pissed, hysterical, itching to kill somebody, ready to
blow something to bits:
terrorist, carbomb, aircrash, fake, phony, jerk, wagon-
burner, hostiles, Stalinist, wimp, psycho, candy-ass.


     Tokyo, Tuesday, 06/30/09

YOU CANT CATCH THE GOOD LIFE OFF A TOILET SEATAccording to the latest numbers, people are tired
of the global corporate pressure cooker. The public
wants something new, something more authentic,
more genuine than playing Space Dingdongs and
running their sorry asses off on the transnational
technological treadmill.

The good life isnt something you just catch off
a toilet seat like combing your hair or riding a bicycle.
From the earliest times, humans have debated the
ideal society, the one best way to build a pyramid or
wipe out a neighboring tribe.

In ancient Greece, Plato - always good for an off-color
joke or cheap sexist remark, used human reason to
describe the good society. In modern America, leaders
get elected by believing in a man who claimed he was
born of a virgin mother and an invisible father who
said he created the universe in six days from nothing.

Society roars ahead then falls apart. Cities collapse.
Markets tank. Then new products appear. Leaders
promise miracles. Markets bounce back. We re on a
roll. But then the bubble bursts. Again things fall apart.
Elation. Depression. Agony. Ecstasy. Overload. Bad
crazy electricity floods the brain.

Who wants to spend forever listening to John Lennon
musac, watching political grandstanders, being bullied
by squarehead bosses? Take Jean Jacques Rousseau –
a terrific human being, hell of a guy. Rousseau said
society is crap. We re better off living in a forest eating
fruit and nuts than working in a coal mine or installing
suburban sewer lines.

So there you have it. Everybody blaming everybody
else. Nietzsche – an enormous talent, fantastic human
being, said we re all sick – convalescents recovering
from a failed civilization. We ve lost the ability to
wrestle live alligators. Cant cut up a squirrel or hack
a wild duck. Forgotten how to sing the deep song,
seek the source where everything began.

Tokyo, Friday, 06/19/09