This is the new normal
No handshake, no smile.
This is the new normal
Lineups with seperation
And stickers on the ground
Telling me which way to walk
Where to stand.
This is the new normal
Where by law
We are no longer able
To gather in groups
More than fingers on my hand.
This is the new normal
Where social distancing
And isolation
Are words of our common vocabulary.
This is the new normal
Where walking down the street
Closer than two meters
To a passing stranger
We get anxiety
That this stranger just might
Transmit to us
An unseen death card.
This is the new normal
Where government declares
A business can no longer stay open.
This is the new normal
Where humans no longer have
Medicine men and women
Available to help
Because their knowledge
Relies on the antidote.
This is the new normal
Where I pay a bank monthly
To hold onto my money
I have saved from spending
And told that method is safer
Than guarding it with my own life,
And that money
Is better in digital plastic
Infused and inflated
By central banks at will.
This is the new normal
Where the government
Of my home country
Feels the safety and security
Of its citizens
Comes after the solvency
Of its biggest industries.
This is the new normal
And we must resist.
Tag: country
Green to Red (day 2422)
A lonely number
In a foreign country
Counting up
To a better memory.
If there was ever
A busy street,
Let stoplights turn
From green to red;
Let park benches sit
On friendly pathways.
The Purr of Gaia (day 1672)
Dear George,
The letters from Salem finally arrived today. I had been preparing for them all week – harvesting a few varieties of toadstools in the forest around the area.
Bonhomie fills my heart this time of season. I wear my warm clothes and delight in an extra cup of coffee most days. Are you still exploring your art of the bean? I have started to use a scale to measure proportions for my perfect cup of coffee.
As I read through the hand written letters, the snow started falling here. Big large flakes that have started to stay on the ground, lazily floating there chaotically.
I love this time of year. The browns are so dominant, lacking most any signs of the lush green foliage of summer’s heat. It soothes the black heart inside of me, calling out to me slowly as I imagine the sweet embracing, icy fingers of Gaia as she slowly settles into fetal position – eyes flickering slowly – for a calm rest. Much like the feline.
I saved a feline from certain death two weeks ago. It had come pawing at my door after I fed it one lonely night. I had seen it fishing in garbage cans for luck earlier that week. We tracked down the owner who said it was left behind during a move half way across the country.
Can you imagine the absurdity of that? Moving half way across the country and leaving without your cat?
It’s a beautiful cat with the fullest of coats and a purr that shakes the icicles from sweet Gaia grip as she slowly settles into my black heart.
I look forward to hearing from you soon. The lovely sketch that accompanied your last letter was so enchanting. I’ve had it sitting on my windowsill since you sent it.
Much love,
Lizarious
Hell is My Political Agenda (day 1356)
Our political agendas are nauseating.
They’re stuffed so full of capital letters
That the underlying messages of our society –
Hell, even our cultures,
Are suffocated with exhaust stacks and bottom dollars.
If I could have dreamed up a Heathenistic Hell,
I’d put city roads and destruction for progress
Right at the top of that scorched list.
I’d decree land had suddenly become a commodity
We could sell simply because we had a gun that said we could.
Just like young adults unable to find their righteous paths,
Explicit lyrics contaminating the innocent minds,
My Hell would be a prescribed better way, mothers.
Did you feel my heart as it’s ripped out every single day
When land mines help fight swollen populations,
Planted in a war to help save lives?
War to not war! Fight fire with fire!
And in my Hell, in my political agenda I call my country,
I would give us hope, every.single.day.
We would wake up to the smell of progress
And desire to capture it in any way possible
So that it could be shared with anybody we knew.
We would mutually feel good about the loss of our trees,
Because our heads were buried so deep in our electricity
Where we were collectively dreaming about
Ways to continue our progress.
For my simple pleasure I’d have dandelions everywhere
As symbols of true health and prosperity.
I’d pull up my old lawn chair, warm beer in hand,
And watch as all the sinners pulled out their organic chemicals
To spray the evil yellow root to death.
On the cold days when there were no death machines
I’d read my botanical books and let the rain
Wash tears into my Hell.
For me this is the saddest thought of all,
Because in spite all my attempts to rectify ignorance,
I would be a black seed living in my own true Hell.
I would be a puppet, inspired to raise my voice
And told that I do mean something to this Hell.
There I’d be, red faced eating my poisoned earth,
Handed another blank Party card
And told why I should be excited.
My Land | Chapter IX (day 1176)
Rick-John told me how earlier on their journey they had lost two of the girls to a couple of cowboys promising a thousand acres and the most beautiful country a man had ever seen.
I suggested that maybe that wasn’t a loss and maybe it was a beautiful thing. He didn’t seem to understand what I was getting at. Perhaps he was getting greedy.
This reminded me of a legend I once heard of a man living in the wilderness with his daughters because he didn’t trust anyone and couldn’t handle losing a piece of his stead. I can’t imagine what it was like for his daughters as they birthed his children. I had always hoped that one of them was educated some how. Legend has it that his wife slit her own throat with his prized knife. The bastard didn’t even know she was missing until he looked for his knife.
Rick-John, of course, was as innocent as any bank-teller yet as foot loose and wagon jumping as any Iroquois I’d ever met.
I oiled my long barrel thinking about this, John-bo neighed softly in the darkness nearby.
[note: to read the full epic track my land]
Canadian Pride (day 761)
My pride
Ripped from it’s socket
So suddenly
Like the drop of a hammer
With peace
An illusion seeped in history
Fleetingly
Waved about like a wildcard
By those
Beseeching higher powers
For us
Citizens of this fine country
Canada
So much beauty spread wide and far
And yet
So much ugly centralized and clinging
Deep Crimson Baskets (day 658)
Shallow pools of unspoilt water
Sit below a Betty Crocker window
With hanging deep crimson baskets
That fill the air
With freshly baked flowered Mondays
Spreading out is the pony picket fence
That shines White House Tuesday
Separating the gumshoe green grass
From the oilskin decay
Of the Red Riding Hood forest
Sporting Wednesday’s haircut
Half-way there
Here’s where the country house patio
Holds the dad’s weekend project picnic table
Thursday’s moldy sandwiches
Crawls into cracks upon the Indian paintbrush deck
Where Friday morning dew drops
Freshens up the green spots
Under the Saturday afternoon oak
That tickle the fresh from shower toes
Wiggling for joy amongst the John Deer grass
Where taste tests start
Out of the Sunday brunch basket
Two drive-in lovers packed
For their dollar store romance
Fresh in from the Marilyn Monroe raindrops
Settling the shallow pools of water waiting
Under the Betty Crocker window
A Bird In The Morning (day 431)
The bird awakes as the dew is still fresh
Clinging to the little hairs that sense danger
Shaken at once to ensure all is still alright
Wouldn’t that be something
To set oneself into flight upon a new day
And find out too late about failures
All along the country side
The other little birds also wake
Repeating the same ritual from evenings slumber
Through the valleys it is heard
Such music that only nature can create
Like splashes deep within the forest
The birds morning is always in chorus
Perhaps the other wild animals
Rely upon the bird for mornings glory
Perhaps they also revel in the song