Duke (day 1367)

Dear George,

I watched the twins go back and forth on the swings today,
It kind of made me feel sea-sick, like when I used to go high.
I remember it was always funner competing
Against my brother or sister to see
Who could go highest.
Did you jump off at the end?
Perhaps that’s why my feet get sore sometimes now.

Could you ever have dreamed we’d both have twins
When we’d first met?
How we’ve both become family people now.
I like the family though, my small bit of world
I’ve nurtured around me.
It’s different then a close knit group of friends
All keenly interested and active in each other’s lives,
But I’m influential all the same, and I like the closeness
We all have regularly. My whole world.
Do you also get this feeling with yours?

Duke, our little fox terrier is getting quite old now.
Do you remember when we first got him?
I was looking at the photographs of him
As a puppy the other day, so cute.
He sits and comes when called,
And when we go for a walk he’s always very obedient.
He gets along with the kids so well.
I hate to think of life without Duke, but we must brace for it a bit.

Hope you’re well George,
We all look forward to your visit this summer.

Sincerely,

Julie.

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.

San Francisco - 201202 (144 of 809)

Extended Health Care (day 655)

Hey, you there
You stranger
These are my streets
This is my neighbourhood
I was weened on these streets
In my young adult life
Sent away from my family
Sent off to find my own…
And then the war broke out
Took so much of our lives
Threw it into fields
Like cow manure fertilizing growth
But for us, it was different, ahh!
It had the opposite effect
Killing us, what nationality
What respect we had harboured
Was lost, forgotten, silenced
And now. Huh
Well now they give me a cane
Extended health-care
And expect me to be happy
To ramble on without misery
Without resent
Top button buttoned..
But I’m a warrior!
The mind of a master
Oh you just wait
I have this planned
This is all how it works
You just wait now

Downtown Vancouver Streets - 20121013 (22 of 84)

Fifty Thousand (day 453)

I can see the moon here
It glows beneath this clear blue sky
Yelling profanities at the bitter and twisted
Undergrowth of fifty thousand trees
With fifty thousand leaves

The moon has something to say today
It whispers to the lawn gnomes that listen
Quietly sitting on the sun fed lawns
They hear the secrets, they know
They’ve lived fifty thousand years ago

Today I heard the moon speak
I waited silently in the middle of the lawn
It held my hand and told me of the future
I shared a story with the moon today
We walked fifty thousand miles together

The moon passed by my way today
It was beyond which I could have imagined
It was silent yet spoke fifty thousand words
It smiled and wept fifty thousand tears with me
It came and left, fifty thousand lives ago

Business, As Usual (day 267)

I wander the streets in a seeming cloud of confusion
Faces laughing, talking, swearing in my ear
Sometimes at me, most of the time amongst themselves
And I think: “How obscure this society is,
How little their lives seem to impact mine
Yet without their nonchalance about my business
I would have no business at all”
So it is this way, that I wander through town
Looking upward at the rooftops above
Smiling at strangers, that are confused with my gaze
I notice their inadvertent discomfort at seeing my own eyes
Staring right back at them, with a smile written across their lids
But mostly I notice their interest, behind the scenes

People usually have their own agendas
Scuttling here and there to get done what is to be done
Ignorance yells at me, through some of their gazes
Yet, in some, I see interest and kindness

Today an old lady stopped me in the street
“Isn’t it beautiful” she asked of me
“Look up” I directed
As we both gazed up at the high rise
Which just then, in that moment that we stood there
Had turned a magical gold
We both realized and were inspired by the act of sharing
What a few words of kindness can do towards a better tomorrow