»
Archives
»
Open Poetry #49
»
Bad Trips And Relativity (redux)
| Open Poetry #49 |
|
Bad Trips And Relativity (redux) |
|
|
icebox Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383in the shadows 
|
We used to wear flowers in our hair and listen to Dylan and the Doors, and the Stones, and smoke a lot; the world, it seemed, could be done over in paisley and peace, it was the peace that comes from being numb, but we were young we were young. War back then was just another reason to get high and mighty, to walk around with mushroom soup for brains, sticking flowers in the guns, running naked through Chicago, sticking truth in their ears, telling ourselves we really did levitate the Pentagon. Until a trench coat man with promises and money, lots of money, said all I had to do was all I had to do for all the money I could make, it didn't take a genius to figure out a plan; what did it matter where the killings were as long as all the killings were for God and country's sake; Hell it was only time and money after all, it was only time and money after all. It helped me to believe we'd beat Him, by dealing death we'd cheat Him, scam the Reaper live forever, not just in our deeds but forever young, like an awakened sleeper, to rage somehow some day against the Johnsons-McNamaras-Nixons-Daleys and the rest of all the check book patriots; well we were just the best we'd ever seen, the best we'd ever seen. The last time I was in the Haight street walkers with cell phones wore granny dresses so salesmen from Des Moines, and Akron, could go home to tell their buddies in the club how they had done a hippie, in the Haight; back when war was deadly we thought free love was safe; how times have changed, how times have changed. Remember TIME and LIFE? Before anthrax, god's own freaks, missing nukes, earth killing asteroid streaks? Money that evaporates, religions always based on love teaching us our private hates? Internet pornography, YouTube, Twitter geeks, H1N1 a bad odds bet? Want to choose a boogeyman, a virus or a meteor, global warming, global cooling, is our President a sneak? Who are the terroristas this week? Every news bite a crisis, lies just a way to speak by idiots trying to spend us out of debt? When was spin what our tires did not politicians and CNN? They used to warn us to the bone about the evil of the life and times in which we always seemed to feel at home; now we are them, now we are them. White papers and documentaries were strident warnings everywhere, about hippie acid in reservoirs how we had to watch the water to protect the body politic, about powders that we buried in our genes, how drugs and sex and rock 'n roll would rot our brains, when we should be getting high on life; that's what we'd read in any news source whenever we were straight enough to read about their hate. It wasn't often we were straight. They must have been right about those drugs building up inside us all distorting our reality, so we ignore what's there to see; it must be why wide-eyed panic hides naively behind a breathing mask, why terrorists who were released on presidential pardons flew back becoming ashes in rain that dried to powder on windowsills looking out on deadly gardens, why I don't drink the water anymore, why sunsets get redder every day. The cities now, they say, may have to be abandoned; the cities may have to be abandoned. ©2003, 2009, 2015 by icebox |
||
| © Copyright 2015 icebox - All Rights Reserved | |||
|
latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
As I read this I find I am feeling sorry for those wasted years that thousands thought were beautiful. So much for love and drugs and flowers, they did not bring the promises they thought it would. Instead many searching hearts and minds now wondering if it really was Utopia.It certainly does not show that now. Wars and more wars, hate not love is now shown in too many places. It seems it will never really end. Best to you Charly, Jo |
||
|
devina Member Elite
since 1999-10-28
Posts 3539Cali |
powerful write sir! enjoyed your construction of slamming home a point with each line. be well ~d Open arms can be the most fragile in the world... |
||
|
Marchmadness Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271So. El Monte, California |
When I look at al tgat I have seen in this li I often wonder why we were chosen to experience this tine in history. It sometimes feels as though I've lived my life in two separate worlds. It all seems so surreal when you think about it. Ida |
||
|
|
⇧ top of page ⇧ |
|
| All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format. | ||
