Poetic Justice (Don\'t burn the flag. Wash it!)

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MARTIN LUTHER KING JR
2008-01-21 03:48:00
READ THE POEM(S) +/-(Click montage to enlarge) 1. RAINBOWS2. WE CANNOT LIVE TO SEE IT ALL3. PEACE IN THIS EMERALD DREAM 2007 mrp/thepoetryman Make it mean something...http://www.relaywave.com/ping RelayWave.php
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CAPTIVE
2008-01-18 06:05:00
READ THE POEM +/-(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)Letters reveal horror of hostages CAPTIVEThere were lesions.Doom slanted his dull bladeNear the downcast eyes of heaven.The country held dear to one anotherIn hopeful assembly, asLettersArrived so freelyPlucked from the jungleWhere others remained shackled,Weeping in bitter despair.Come savior! Come country!Come! Lift the head of heaven!“I did not wish to drag myself through mudbecause I couldn’t stand up.”There was malaria.Heartache pursed her keen lipsUpon the wet shoulders of paradise.“This story isn’t new.” she whispered,“They’ve been tethered for many years.”Paradise shrugged, “As have we, my love.”Come savior! Come country!Come! Lift the head of heaven!© 2007 mrp/thepoetrymanRebels Abduct Six TouristsFreed Columbian Hostage Meets With SonFreed Hostages in Venezualahttp://www.relaywave.com/pingRel ayWave.php

ENDLESS LINE
2008-01-02 18:43:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage) click to enlargeWhat is walking with spindly, awkward legsalongside the Kalahari? It beckons such beautiful skin.What is it that runs its outrageous shatteringend to end the wholesome Okavango River?It has no shackle, is unfettered its reign,driving crudely over landlocked souls, peltinga most eager children.“Lefatshe la Botswana”- Africa, Namibia,Zambia, Zimbabwe, characters of thesecower not to the pouring,save for death.What walks naked toward our sun?Sense its hunger beckoning-O! Have not a doubtit shall traverse our swamp,peer into all of us and,free to move about its tall shattering,stoop over us and ask,“Why did you do nothing?”© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman Endless Line for DrugsInvisible Child CareAIDS COMBAT ZONEAfriGadgetCFFD Blog http://www.relaywave.com/pingRelayWave.ph p

RETURN TO CHRISTMAS
2007-12-25 08:00:00
(A Poetic Justice Collage) click to enlargeAs I return to the terrainOf home and family and poetry…I call still on power to cease,To end its gripOn the throat of humanity…I spit it out as if poison,Wrenching the taste away…Like a lopped off limbStriking a dreary soundI slice it deeply toward tyranny…I release it like a victim of rape,Shaking, fatigued, frantic, enragedCutting the air of privilege…I expel it like a thiefMoving stealthily, no outline,Save for the throb of unknown loss…I throw it to the page with imagination,A sword cutting its way through…And without prejudiceI spatter.Copyright © 2006 mrp / thepoetryman http://www.relaywave.com/pingRelayWave.ph p
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SPLINTERED HOST
2007-12-23 20:35:00
What is Christmas to you and me?The holidays to the oppressed?To the splintered soul?The hosts of such griefWhose ember desire wracks the flesh?What is Christmas to you and me?(Humanity's meaning, not the redeemer,in these days of crucifying.)O! Our portrayal defies expression!Our darkened pathway!Our giving, our charity,O! It needs light upon it!It needs shine bright upon reality.As a tree so ornamented.We love.Copyright © 2006 mrp / thepoetrymanhttp://www.relaywave.com/ping RelayWave.php
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GIVING?
2007-11-22 18:06:00
(Photomontage © 2007 mrp/thepoetryman)One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting.In fact, indigenous people have offered such a model; since 1970 they have marked the fourth Thursday of November as a Day of Mourning in a spiritual/political ceremony on Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, one of the early sites of the European invasion of the Americas.Not only is the thought of such a change in this white-supremacist holiday impossible to imagine, but the very mention of the idea sends most Americans into apoplectic fits -- which speaks volumes about our historical hypocrisy and its relation to the contemporary politics of empire in the United States. (More...)Oh! I almost forgot! Happy Thanksgiving!INTIARTShttp://www.relaywave .com/pingRelayWave.php
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ANTI-WAR VIDEOS
2007-11-09 16:18:00
(Poetryman Productions)(Volume control on player) http://www.relaywave.com/pingRelayWave.ph p
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SELF EVIDENT (Collapsing - Dream)
2007-11-02 22:28:00
Inspired by Bomb Iran - Shakesville Collapsing - Dream Today when our dream’s collapsing to the soil,Our minds tottering in dustSwathed in the blood of haste;How should we feel,What should we thinkWhen the dream’s collapsing to soil?The rev-e-rie is tumbling as we speak,Plunging behind our eyes,Lurching back of bladeRazor-honed by sandsWhipping `cross our face…Where shall we hide tomorrow? © 2007 mrp/thepoetryman (Poetryman Productions) SELF EVIDENT Lyrics SO MUCH SHOUTING SO MUCH LAUGHTER Ani DiFrancohttp://www.relaywave.com/pingRela yWave.php

SCARY TIMES
2007-10-31 23:38:00
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LIONS FOR LAMBS...VOTE FOR THE FINALISTS
2007-10-30 20:01:00
You can vote once a day for your favorite video through November 7th! I'm in third place as of this post...If you feel the need please vote for me, or any video you feel is the best, once a day!"What I Stand For" contest at Lions for Lambs.My video, What I Stand For (in under 30 seconds) is a finalist, of which there are ten!When you visit the page (You Tube) see this blurb...The winner gets to help choosewhat charity should receive $25,000and will have his/her video featuredon the YouTube homepage.Seeofficial rules for details(and then click the vote now tab)VOTE NOW Scroll through the vids and vote by clicking on the thumbs up (or down) just to the right of the video.http://www.relaywave.com/pingRelayW ave.php
More About: Finalists , Vote

VOTE FOR THE FINALISTS (Lions for Lambs video contest)
2007-10-29 06:49:00
Vote for the best video in the "What I Stand For" contest at Lions for Lambs.My video, What I Stand For (in under 30 seconds) is a finalist, of which there are ten!When you visit the page (You Tube) see this blurb...The winner gets to help choose what charity should receive $25,000 and will have his/her video featured on the YouTube homepage.See official rules for details(and then click the vote now tab) VOTE NOW© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman http://www.relaywave.com/pingRelayWave.ph p
More About: Video , Contest , Finalists , Vote

MOURNING PUNISHMENT
2007-10-28 00:23:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage) Death Penalty Tests Church as It MournsBy ALISON LEIGH COWAN The United Methodist Church here is the kind of politically active place where parishioners take to the pulpit to discuss poverty in El Salvador and refugees living in Meriden. But few issues engage its passions as much as the death penalty.The last three pastors were opponents of capital punishment. Church-sponsored adult education classes promote the idea of “restorative justice,” advocating rehabilitation over punishment. Two years ago, congregants attended midnight vigils outside the prison where Connecticut executed a prisoner for the first time in 45 years.So it might have been expected that United Methodist congregants would speak out forcefully when a brutal triple murder here in July led to tough new policies against violent criminals across the state and a pledge from prosecutors to seek capital punishment against the defendants. But the congregation has been largely quiet, not...
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HERA'S CHILDREN
2007-10-20 07:54:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage) Lights rise on ATHENA (The Virgin), her flesh covered in ivory, her drapery and armor in solid gold. Soon HERA, the Queen of the gods, wearing the polos crown enters. In her hand she holds a pomegranate; the emblem of fertile blood and death (and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy). As she ascends the steps of the Parthenon, ATHENA addresses her.ATHENA:Hera, good morn to you.HERA:And to you, Athena.ATHENA:By your countenance it would seem less so…HERA:This daybreak I’ve heard a disturbing query.ATHENA:Might I answer?HERA:You might, were you not a virgin.ATHENA:Ha! You know that’s a myth, dearest Hera. There are Romans and Greeks whose foreheads have sprung tales of-HERA:Yes! I know, but you should hush, your father might hear you.ATHENA:You think I care about what Zeus hears, your husband and brother? I’ve given him bigger headaches at my birth than may leap from this!HERA:Yes. That you have, dear Athena. That you have.AT...
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FAILURE
2007-10-18 18:05:00
Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Ben Harper and Bonnie Raitt on a petition to Congress to prevent a costly bailout of the nuclear power industry.Only this remained of theStoneThe thunder slapped greedilyOver the obstinate sky grown lowStriking over collapsedSpearRemember this is not make-believeBut new, bright and breathingOf the eagle and the lionessSeeking mereFood and waterWriting history with bloody aweWe should have saved the youngAnd not left idle the spring of manCharity subdued in loathingSwordThey may now read of this slaughterPapers insuredGun's possessionBut failed in man’s ache for murderWe shouldn’t recommence our fixationWielding science’s crush of matter and atomDifficult, slow and deliberate is thisBombdropping overhead, called homewardTo its use;Radiationbathing nationsWith the stench of man’s undoingSomething as seemingly negligibleAs affirming life inPetri-dish. © 2007 mrp/thepoetrymanTake Action! Urge congress to fund renewable and efficiency technologies n...
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DO NOT WEEP
2007-10-17 15:31:00
At night when we do not sleepAnd the faces outstay their welcome,When horrors touch our dreamsAnd we tremble their language…The occupation of our hearts in sleep-O! The assassination of souls!And this; our death stained dreamsCarried by gloom nearer to usWill ever be in attendanceIf we nourish them in our days.© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman http://www.relaywave.com/pingRelayWave.ph p

DREARY BROOCH
2007-10-14 08:01:00
(APJ Varied Video)Pin a heart on us, the living;We, the unmoving.The deceased have more breathThan our breathing.Emblems of our emptinessAnd weaknessPuncturing hunger’s sleeve withDreary brooch.Cackling our minute’s final gaspWith warring,Weak idols pinned to proud chests,Unfilled, all.Pin sweet thoughts upon the dull,Not pennantsOf gluttony, empire, warfareAnd oil.Whilst our children die for thoseAlready deadLet us begin anew with this; the worldsFlagless living.© 2007 mrp/thepoetrymanhttp://www.relaywave.com/ pingRelayWave.php

WHAT I STAND FOR (in under 30 seconds)
2007-10-11 23:38:00
My entry in the contest at Lions for Lambs of "What Do You Stand For?" video productions.http://www.youtube.com/lionsf orlambs(Poetryman Productions) To enter your own video of what you stand for just follow this link - http://www.youtube.com/lionsforlambshttp: //www.relaywave.com/pingRelayWave.php
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PALE FINGER
2007-10-09 16:08:00
(Ben Heine - Cartoons) Ernesto Ché GuevaraWhite House Memorandum, May 11, 1967: This short memo to President Lyndon Johnson records U.S. efforts to track Guevara's movements, and keep the President informed of his whereabouts. Written by presidential advisor, Walt Rostow, the memo reports that Guevara may be "operational" and not dead as the CIA apparently believed after his disappearance from Cuba.Next year the executioner will steady his rifle,Calmly move his pale finger over the metalPrepared to extinguish the light of revolution-Yet he will pause at his mission,Blink and ponder a truth-And as injustice begins to pull back upon history,Govern its course with an executioner’s pillory,A figure will drift into the crosshairs and say“Shoot, you coward. You may kill a man,But you shall never kill his thirst.”Hasta la victoria siempre! (Forever, until victory!) © 2007 mrp/thepoetryman Time 100 GuevaraInternational - The Newshttp://www.relaywave.com/pingRelayWav e.php
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DISCOVERY
2007-10-08 02:01:00
Native American Way Why Autonomous AIM Opposes Columbus Dayand Columbus Day Parades ©by Glenn Morris and Russell MeansWhen Taino Indians saved Christopher Columbus from certain death on the fateful morning of Oct. 12, 1492, a glorious opportunity presented itself. The cultures Europe of and the Americas could have merged and the beauty of both races could have flourished. Unfortunately, what occurred was neither beautiful nor heroic. Just as Columbus could not, and did not, "discover" a hemisphere that was already inhabited by nearly 100 million people, his arrival cannot, and will not, be recognized as a heroic and celebratory event by indigenous peoples. Unlike the Western tradition, which presumes some absolute concept of objective truth, and consequently, one "factual" depiction of history, the indigenous view recognizes that there exist many truths in the world and many legitimate recollections of any given historical event, depending on one's perspective and experiences. Fro...
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WEAPON
2007-10-05 14:42:00
(Ben Heine - Cartoons) They didn't warn us of this growing up.How could they?They too had been sold deceit painted to look like gold.We shall continue to wander off into the dark,Lumbering through the sludge,Leaving the whole thing as it was;We’ll not be the last to ingest it.We’ll stay kneeled behind the world,Behind authorities stench,Our noses filling with it-For we are an obedient creatureWatching everything we’re here for disappearAnd everything we should fear being painted gold!We’re too busy warring-We’re too busy dreaming-We’re too busy scheming-We’re too busy competing-We’re too goddamned busy!O never have we seen such indifference!Never have we stared so eyeless,Breathing in the stink of depravity,Howling that our things are being confiscated,Agape at the murder and rape of mankind,Screeching of powers rush forward,Of our being strapped to the slab of want,Our freedoms turning nose skywardAs they plunge from the precipice we made,Screaming of deadly chemic...
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WORDLESS (A tale of Myanmar)
2007-10-02 04:44:00
She moved rapidly over the groundAlongside the Salween trench where hell dogsSlathered their steel lips in conquest; beasts Collecting the night’s wordless skies.She fell hard upon the scorched ground,Her slender legs slapping the stony loam.I cradled her wet face against my chestTo gentle her howling heart. She smiledAnd stroked my face, then her mouth leaptUpon mine and our hands curved into flamesAs we pushed deep into the brush.Wordless, we spoke of our hopes and fears;The beasts hard upon our backs,The children and their mother’s shriek,The lifeless weeping stirred by the heartless.The sick and the dying were with us,Between our moving lips and fingers,Upon our union of sweat and fleshUnderneath the forlorn heavens.And within our merger of silence we knew,At long last, there was no more need to run. © 2007 mrp/thepoetrymanThis story and link is dated but seems rather relevant...India influences Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh for Gas supplypossibly through Bangladesh pipe l...
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TU VAS NOUS MANQUER an ode to Marcel Marceau
2007-09-24 03:31:00
Mime Legend Marcel Marceau dies at 84 Marcel Marceau, the master of mime who transformed silence into poetry with lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions that spoke to generations of young and old, has died. He was 84. Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, Marceau breathed new life into an art that dates to ancient Greece. He played out the human comedy through his alter-ego Bip without ever uttering a word.Offstage, he was famously chatty. "Never get a mime talking. He won't stop," he once said.A French Jew, Marceau escaped deportation to a Nazi death camp during World War II, unlike his father who died in Auschwitz. Marceau worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children, and later used the memories of his own life to feed his art.He gave life to a wide spectrum of characters, from a peevish waiter to a lion tamer to an old woman knitting, and to the best-known Bip.As in silent motionwhite faced petalspolish our living...

IT IS COMING
2007-09-20 10:12:00
Breathe in deep America,You are fading.The liberated their dreams,We’ve none.Warriors fall to the streets,Children face down.Streets drenched in gloom,Ours awash in pride.Rise up to splendor,It is waiting.Show the world freedom,Conquer your death.(Poetryman Productions)© 2007 mrp/thepoetrymanhttp://www.relaywave.com/ pingRelayWave.php

GOOD SOLDIER
2007-09-16 20:52:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)The Ambitious Delusions of George Bush and David PetraeusWe now learn that General David Petraeus fancies himself a Dwight Eisenhower for the 21st century.According to a report in London's Independent newspaper by the reliable Middle East observer Patrick Cockburn, the U.S. military viceroy in Iraq would like very much to return from his mission and -- like the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe during World War II and of North Atlantic Treaty Organization in its aftermath -- mount a bid for the White House.Petraeus has apparently been so open in expressing his "long-term interest in running for the US presidency" that Sabah Khadim, a former senior adviser at Iraq's Interior Ministry who worked closely with the general in Baghdad, recalls, "I asked him if he was planning to run in 2008 and he said, 'No, that would be too soon'."The mouth of the good soldier,The stern jaw of the general,The small particles of human dustThat move between th...
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ANGER AND INDIGNATION
2007-09-14 06:59:00
The idea for the poem below the incredibly powerful video (first 4 and a half minutes), ANGER AND IN-DIG-NATION by Dr. Ryman, began with a comment I read on The Existentialist Cowboy's post about Petraeus' testimony before congress. The words, by Diane B The Gemini Scrolls, are quoted below:"You are right Len, these characters that are running our government, have committed so many horrendous crimes, and need to be in prison if not worse. It appears this is not going to happen with this Congress, will it ever, who knows?"I highlighted the four simple words, only four, sometimes my muse prefers more, but I latched on to those four and could not wipe them from my mind. This fact is not to take away from Diane's full comment which certainly has some teeth. I suppose my muse is to blame for the most part since things usually don't stay in my head for more than a few minutes. The four words called out to me and stayed with me and I do hope that this poem and video call out and stay w...
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IMMOBILE DESCENT
2007-09-11 20:13:00
Robert Shetterly ...The second strong feeling --- the first being horror --- I had on September 11 was hope, hope that the United States would use the shock of this tragedy to reassess our economic, environmental, and military strategies in relation to the other countries and peoples of the world. Many people hoped for the same thing --- not to validate terrorism, but to admit that the arrogance and appetite of the U.S., all of us, have created so much bad feeling in many parts of the world that terrorism is inevitable. I no longer feel hopeful. If one looks closely at U.S. foreign policy, the common denominator is energy, oil in particular. The world is running out of oil. Political leadership that had respect for the future of the Earth and a decent concern for the lives of American and non-American people would be leading us away from conflict toward conservation and economic justice, toward alternative energy, toward a plan for the survival of the world that benefits everyone. W...
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BURNING DREAM
2007-09-09 01:17:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)Baghdad Burn ing ... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend......The first minutes after passing the border were overwhelming. Overwhelming relief and overwhelming sadness… How is it that only a stretch of several kilometers and maybe twenty minutes, so firmly segregates life from death?...As I sit here in my quiet writing space, a much needed rainTapping out its eager ballet upon the equally eager soil,I cannot help but imagine another driving backbeat of fearWrithing and weaving its way across the sand toward Syria;Moving upon the shattered dance floor like a repellent leperStumbling toward new floors and ceilings and fresh ground and flesh.The earth has its milk to give, the people their gratefulness.The empire has its blood to spill, the meek their mourning.The lies have their tales to tell, the truth its casualty;Brown blood coursing over the scourge filled wilderness.I have seen the silent Sacred Ibis ...
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WHY DO WE NOT LIVE
2007-09-07 06:21:00
Elton & Pavarotti - Live Like HorsesWhy live? Why such appetite if we only aspire to its demise; this odd sphere's protracted pining which hunger itself appears to not have any use for. The insides of a child, the spattered family, the fallen soldier, all lying on the barren street engulfed in livings final drink understand more than this. This odd yearning for what seems to be discarded so readily without remorse or as much as a blink of an eye; the gasp for breath at our birth seems slightly strange given our anorexic affection toward mankind. Our craving for such a quickening demise only to be buried with the presumptive wish of tomorrow’s lustrous hue, is madness! We’ve no more sense than this? Have we prodded enough of our heart’s living that it’s time to explore beyond it into the unknowable?Yes! Why can’t we live like horses; blast the shackled raven and salvage the senses; break free the walls and live unbridled; our experiment’s incomplete and our living needs ...

Pavarotti - R. I. P.
2007-09-06 17:30:00
(Ben Heine - Cartoons)Luciano Pavarotti , the Italian singer whose ringing, pristine sound set a standard for operatic tenors of the postwar era, died early this morning at his home in Modena, in northern Italy. He was 71.Barry White, Bryan Adams, Meat Loaf, Alex Britti, Joe Cocker, Jovanotti, James Brown, Michael Bolton, Dolores O'Riordan, Zucchero, & Elton John all appearing with the master of voice...Expand "read the poem" to hear and see them all and celebrate this man's gift.And a solo by the singer that all others should aspire to.Luciano,May your winged voice soar above the world's desperation...http://apoeticjustice.blogs pot.com/atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc

THE VIRGIN AND THE SEASONED
2007-09-05 07:32:00
(APJ's Other Video)Bush just playing us with 'troop withdrawal'Olbermann: "President Bush told troops in Iraq some of them may be able to come home. To a country dying of thirst, the president seemed to vaguely promise a drink from a full canteen -- a promise predicated on the assumption that he is not lying. Yet you are lying, Mr. Bush. Again. But now, we know why. " "...Everything you said about Iraq yesterday, and everything you will say, is a deception, for the purpose of this one cynical, unacceptable, brutal goal: perpetuating this war indefinitely."(full transcript)THE VIRGIN AND THE SEASONEDRight after the sky had seemingly dumped all its gloom upon this worldAnd sunny days lay ahead of us… some of us… maybe some lucky son of the rich;Just when the world could use some talk of peace and healing of woundsAnd unruffled reflection allowed to descend… or shine… or sidle between dry lips;O! That this world could make use of silence or a hushed and soothing reverieFrom ...
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